Former Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Major Peter Mugure Mwaura will spend the rest of his life behind bars after the High Court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of his estranged wife and their two young children.
Justice Martin Muya handed down the sentence at the Milimani High Court, describing the killings as barbaric and holding that the gravity of the offences outweighed the mitigating factors advanced by the defence.
“I find that the acts committed were barbaric. Bearing in mind that the accused has been in custody, I sentence him to life imprisonment,” Justice Muya ruled.
The sentence follows Mugure’s conviction on three counts of murder after the court found that he deliberately killed his 31-year-old wife, Joyce Syombua, their 10-year-old daughter Shanice Maua and five-year-old son Prince Michael in October 2019 before burying their bodies in a shallow grave at Thigithu in Laikipia County.
In convicting the former military officer, the court held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt through a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence, including forensic findings and witness testimony linking him to the killings.
A key prosecution witness, Mugure’s colleague Collins Pamba, testified that he assisted in disposing of the bodies after being approached by the accused. Pamba later entered into a plea bargain with the prosecution and testified as a state witness, with his evidence forming a crucial part of the prosecution’s case.
The court heard that the murders were carefully planned. Mugure, who had separated from Syombua, persuaded her to travel from Nairobi to Nanyuki with their two children after telling her he wanted to spend time with them because he could not travel to see them himself.
Before making the journey, Syombua informed a close friend that she was taking the children to meet their father. Throughout the trip, she kept the friend updated, notifying her when she arrived in Nanyuki, when Mugure picked them up and later after they reached his residence.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Syombua later sent another message informing her friend that Mugure had instructed her to proceed to the airbase. That was the last communication she ever made.
When subsequent calls went unanswered, the worried friend contacted Mugure to inquire about Syombua’s whereabouts. Mugure reportedly told her that Syombua had already left and was travelling back to Nairobi. The explanation raised suspicion because the friend expected Syombua to continue updating her throughout the journey.
Concerned by the sudden silence, the friend reported the disappearance to police, triggering investigations that would later uncover one of the country’s most chilling family murders.
Investigators later established that the three had been killed before their bodies were secretly buried in a shallow grave at Thigithu in Laikipia County. The court also relied on forensic evidence and the sequence of events presented during the trial, which demonstrated that the murders had been meticulously planned before efforts were made to conceal the crime.
The prosecution further told the court that Mugure had been ordered to pay Sh 25,000 monthly child maintenance following the couple’s separation but had allegedly failed to honour the obligation, with the invitation to Syombua and the children coming against the backdrop of the custody and maintenance dispute.
Although the defence urged the court to consider the period Mugure had already spent in remand custody while awaiting the conclusion of the trial, Justice Muya held that the brutality of the offences warranted the ultimate custodial sentence.
The judge further observed that the convict had not demonstrated remorse for the deaths of his wife and children.
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