A Nairobi court has handed down the death penalty to four men over the brutal killing of former Kabete MP George Muchai, bringing to a close one of the country’s most high-profile criminal cases. Two additional suspects were sentenced to 10 years in prison for related offences.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina delivered the judgment on Thursday, April 9, after finding all six accused persons guilty on various counts, including robbery with violence and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
The court heard that the convicts were behind the deadly attack that claimed the lives of Muchai, his two bodyguards, and his driver during a nighttime ambush in Nairobi in February 2015.
According to the prosecution, the gang which was armed with firearms, targeted the former legislator while he was driving along Kenyatta Avenue in the Central Business District.
In his ruling, Onyina said the prosecution had presented compelling evidence demonstrating that the four main convicts were directly involved in the violent robbery that resulted in multiple deaths.
He added that the severity and circumstances of the crime met the legal threshold required to impose the death sentence under laws governing robbery with violence.
The two remaining accused were convicted on charges related to the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and each sentenced to 10 years in prison. The court noted that although they were linked to the criminal network, there was insufficient evidence placing them at the scene of the killings.
Muchai, who was serving his first term as Kabete MP at the time of his death, had built a reputation as a prominent trade unionist before entering politics. His killing shocked the nation and remains one of Kenya’s most notable political assassinations in recent history.
The case has spanned more than a decade, marked by numerous court sessions, witness testimonies, and legal submissions from both the prosecution and defence.
During the trial, prosecutors also linked the convicts to a string of coordinated robberies carried out across Nairobi around the same period. The court observed that the incidents bore similar patterns, including the use of firearms, the number of attackers, and the execution style; which factors that reinforced the case against the accused.