A former administration Policeman has been jailed 200 years after he was convicted of murdering 10 people among them his two colleagues in Siakago, Embu County 10 years ago.
Embu High Court Judge Florence Muchemi ordered Peter Karanja to serve 20 years for each of the 10 murder counts and the sentences to run concurrently; meaning he will only serve 20 years.
Karanja was charged that on November 26, 2009, at Siakago, he murdered Anthony Mwaniki, Fridah Ng’endo, Kenwin Muthomi, Agostino Kinyua and George Ng’ang’a.
He also faced other counts related to the murder of Domisiano Muchira, Ephantus Munyi, Rachel Muthoni, Wilfred Gitonga and Fredrick Okwako. Gitonga and Okwako were AP officers then based at Mbeere North DC’s office.
The accused committed the offence while on night duty at the then District Commissioner’s residence on November 26, 2009 as he hunted his alleged estranged girlfriend at several bars in Siakago while spraying bullets on those he came across.
According to the prosecution, on the material night at around 11:30 pm Karanja got wind that his girlfriend was reportedly engaging in illicit affairs at Siakago.
He excused himself to answer a call of nature but instead walked to Siakago town, entering several bars shooting anybody he met as he searched for his girlfriend until he ran out of bullets. He later surrendered to police officers who had started hunting him down.
While sentencing him Justice Muchemi noted that the prosecution had proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offence.
Victor Andande, the accused’s lawyer pleaded for leniency saying his client was remorseful and that he was suffering was terminally ill.
He also sought for his client’s sentence to be backdated to the date of incident to which Justice Muchemi directed him to do a formal application. The accused has 14 days to appeal against the sentence.
By Kimani Tirus
