I was bribed to keep mum, says police informer in lawyer Willie Kimani
A police informer charged with the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani yesterday sensationally claimed he was given money by one of the suspects to conceal information relating to the case.
Peter Ngugi said he was given Sh15,000 last month by one of the accused persons, Fredrick Leliman, not to reveal any information regarding the slain lawyer’s abduction while leaving Mavoko Law Courts on June 23, 2016.
Ngugi, who is charged alongside police officers Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku and Leonard Mwangi, asked the court to allow him to table evidence to prove his claims.
Justice Jessie Lesiit allowed the application and directed the officer in charge, Naivasha Prison, to avail the said documents, which Ngugi said would confirm that Leliman sent him money last month.
Monthly stipend
On cross-examination by Leliman’s lawyer Cliff Ombeta, Ngugi confessed to planning the kidnap and murder of Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and driver Joseph Muiruri, whose bodies were found in Oldonyo Sabuk River days after they were reported missing.
Ngugi also revealed that investigating officers had promised him a Sh30,000 monthly stipend and a further Sh200,000 to set up a business for his wife once he testified in the case.
“Things, however, changed; that is why I am here,” he told the judge.
Ngugi also admitted to being paid to give information to police but denied being a hitman.
When asked why he did not cross-examine Leliman during his defence, Ngugi claimed he was waiting for his day in the dock so that he could spill the beans.
Last week, Ngugi explained in detail the events leading to the death of the trio on the night of June 23, 2016.
He implicated five other police officers who were not charged with the murder, saying it was the reason he has never requested for bail, as he feared for his life.
He identified the five as Mwaniki, Kamau, Kamenju, Waweru and Waingo and gave the specific roles each of the officers played in the heinous crime.
He claimed that when they went to Oldonyo Sabuk River, he did not know they were carrying bodies inside the gunny bags.
Another officer
“Kamenju told me to open the boot... and I left to go see the river. I saw them remove things from the boot, mizigo mirefu, and threw them into the river,” he told the court.
He told the court that they returned to Mlolongo from the river and were joined by Kamau and Leliman, whom he referred to as “senior”.
“Senior said all of us should be given five beers each… I drank until I blacked out… I do not know what happened after that. I do not know if something was put in my drink,” he told the court.
Testifying in the case last week, Ngugi implicated the five officers in the murder, giving their specific roles in the commission of the heinous crime.
Waweru and Kamau were prosecution witnesses in the murder case.
According to Ngugi, Kamau was the one who gave him instructions to trail Mwendwa at the Mavoko Law Courts on the day he was kidnapped and murdered alongside his lawyer and the driver.
“Kamau told me there was a ‘kathief’ who was going to court that day. He wanted me to survey his movements…I did not know that person, but Kamau told me that somebody will tell me how that person will be dressed,” he told the court.
Ngugi claimed that he was told that the person he was to monitor had suffered injuries on his one hand due to a previous shooting incident.
Kamenju on the other hand was the one who gave him instructions on how to dispose off the car the slain lawyer, Mwendwa and Muiruri were traveling in before they were kidnapped.
He claimed he met Kamenju at Weighbridge, who told him to drive the car to Limuru.
“I did not see Kamau there. I was only told to go…When I got to Limuru, I called Kamau.
He told me to wait in the Kamirithu area. Then another police officer came. I gave him the car and a radio,” he claimed.
Kamau would later call him and direct him to go to Mlolongo to pick “something small” as the work he did was not for free.
“I was told to go to a place. It is near Mulei Supermarket. I found Kamenju, Waingo and Kamau.
We ate meat and drank... We stayed there, not long..when another person came, he was running, I did not know him. I now know he is called Mwaniki.”
Ngugi narrated that thereafter, Kamau, Kamenju, and Waingo left in a hurry while he continued drinking until 9pm when Waingo came alone and told him to go to a carwash to meet Kamau.
He said he went there but did not find him, so he called him and he directed him to another place where he found him with Kamenjo, Waweru and Mwaniki. The case continues today.
