Four police officers in Willy Kimani murder case to remain in custody longer

The High Court will on May 9 this year rule on whether it will grant bail to four police officers accused of killing Human Rights Lawyer Willie Kimani and two others.

This is even as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) asked the court not to release the accused persons on bail.

Through State counsel Nicholas Mutuku, the court was told that there are only six witnesses remaining in the case to testify against the accused persons who include Fredrick Leliman, Leonard Maina, Stephen Chebulet and Sylvia Wanjiku Ngugi and police informer Peter Ngugi.

During the hearing of the bail application, the court was told that the remaining testimonies are that of protected witnesses who include two civilians and four police officers.

State counsel Mutuku submitted before the court that the same circumstances that earlier led to the accused being denied bail have not changed and they still exist.

“We have already taken testimonies from 38 witnesses and only have six more witnesses in order to conclude the case,” Mutuku told the court.

Through their lawyers, the accused persons asked the court to release them on bail arguing that they are not a flight risk and that they are civil servants earning half salary.

They argued that even though there are only six witnesses remaining in the case, it is not clear as to when the case will conclude.

“We cannot determine how long the remaining witnesses will take” the court heard.

Lawyer Kimani was kidnapped and killed alongside his client Josephat Mwenda and a taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri, in June 2016.

The deceased were leaving the Mavoko Law Courts when they went missing for a week before their bodies were later retrieved from the Athi River, near Donyo Sabuk police post.