A Nyeri High Court has sentenced former Kenya Army Major Peter Mwaura Mugure to life imprisonment for the murder of his two young children and their mother, after finding that he meticulously planned and executed the killings in 2019.
Justice Martin Muya handed down the sentence on Tuesday after convicting Mugure on three counts of murder, ordering that the life sentences run concurrently. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had urged the court to impose the death penalty, arguing that the killings were premeditated and exceptionally cruel.
In delivering the sentence, Justice Muya said the former military officer had demonstrated "no iota of remorse" throughout the trial. He also described the murders as "barbaric," noting the growing cases of femicide and infanticide in the country and saying such offences demanded severe punishment.
The court considered a victim impact statement presented by the victims' family alongside submissions by the prosecution before arriving at the sentence. It also took into account the period Mugure had already spent in custody.
The conviction followed a prosecution led by Principal Prosecution Counsels Jennifer Kaniu and Pithon Mwangi, who persuaded the court that the former Kenya Army officer had carefully planned the killings.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Mugure, then serving as a Major at the Laikipia Air Base, invited his family to the military installation under the guise of a family visit.
On October 26, 2019, he murdered his two children before later killing their mother. Prosecutors told the court that he concealed the three bodies in the boot of his vehicle before transporting them to a remote location where they were dumped.
Witnesses further testified that three days before the killings, Mugure had visited the disposal site and arranged for a shallow grave to be dug, evidence that prosecutors said demonstrated clear premeditation.
The court agreed, finding that the prosecution had presented "cogent, credible and consistent evidence" that "irresistibly pointed" to Mugure's guilt beyond reasonable doubt, leading to his conviction and the life sentence.