Detectives escort Lawrence Njoroge Warunge (centre) out of the Kiambu Law Courts on January 11, 2021.
On January 5, 2021, in the sleepy village of Karura in Kiambaa Constituency, Kiambu County, Nicholas Njoroge, his wife Anne Wanjiku, their son Christian Njenga, nephew Maxwell Njenga and their farmhand James Kinyanjui Wamba were attacked with crude weapons and killed in the middle of the night.
The main suspect in the murders was the couple’s son, Lawrence Warunge, then 24 years old, who confessed to the police.
All the family members were buried in one grave.
It was one of the most gruesome murders ever recorded in Kiambu, a county where murder stories stemming from love triangles, property disputes, inheritances and deals gone wrong dominate media headlines. In most cases, the dead are never buried and the killers remain at large.
Warunge, who had initially confessed to the murders, personally led investigating officers to Mai-Mahiu, Nakuru County, where he had hidden the weapons he used. However, he later recanted his recorded confessions to police in a murder case that has stalled for years.
Family members and detectives believe his change of heart may have been influenced by his interaction with other inmates at Industrial Area Remand Prison and his access to a defence lawyer who may have advised him of the punishment he would face for the murders if he stuck to his earlier statement.
Lawrence Warunge Njoroge (second right), who is linked to the killing of his four family members and a worker in Kiambu, leads detectives to a site at Jikaze IDP Camp in Maai Mahiu, Nakuru County, where murder weapons were retrieved on January 09, 2020.
In one of the affidavits filed by investigating officers at the Kiambu High Court, which form part of Warunge's confessions, the suspect said he did not regret killing his parents and the other two victims, but he did regret killing his brother, who had begged him to spare his life.
“He told us that he wore a dress, and had a wig and high heels to disguise himself. This is an idea he got from watching the series Killing Eve,” reads a court document that forms part of the prosecution's evidence, derived from his earlier confession to the police.
His relatives and the prosecution team believe that Warunge is still lethal and is determined to kill again if released.
His relatives have opposed his release on bond or cash bail, saying that during his interrogation by investigators, he revealed that he intended to kill his two sisters, who were at school at the time of the murders. They also claim that Warunge has continued to make threats while in remand prison, where he has been since his arrest.
“The Warunge and Njenga family have expressed that they do not wish for the accused to be released from custody... This is due to the following reasons: The accused expressed during his arrest that he had every intention of killing his remaining two sisters and other members of the family. The accused has, through different numbers that emanated from the remand prison, threatened the life of his cousin and his family,” his family told a Kiambu court through their lawyers Ndindi & Nadida Advocates while opposing his release on bail.
“The accused seems not to be remorseful and if released, he may act on his words to kill his sisters, cousins and relatives,’’ they said in court documents seen by the Nation.
Lawrence Njoroge Warunge, the prime suspect in the murder of five people in Kiambaa, Kiambu County, is escorted out of the Kiambu Law Courts on January 12, 2021.
Warunge has revealed in a probation report filed in Kiambu High Court that he felt his parents hated and neglected him, describing his father as a serial drunkard.
The case was adjourned several times after Warunge pleaded not guilty to five counts of murder on April 15, 2021.
In January 2022, Justice Mary Kasango, who was presiding over the case, retired and Justice Rachel Ng'etich, who took over the matter, adjourned the case, which had been scheduled for May 9 and 10, 2022 and set a hearing for June 27, 2022. The defence team had applied to the court for a second psychiatric evaluation during that period, and both reports found Warunge fit to stand trial.
Justice Ng'etich later set the hearing date for May 10 and 11, 2023, but the hearing did not take place as the judge was transferred within that period.
A new judge, Peter Mulwa, was later appointed to handle the matter and gave the case a hearing date of June 26, 2023. On that date, the defence applied for an adjournment, which was granted, and the case was again adjourned to October 4, 2023.
On October 4, 2023, the judge did not hear the case. He was on transfer and therefore could not hear the matter and the case is listed for mention on January 29, 2024.
Meanwhile, Warunge's then girlfriend, Sarah Muthoni, remains a state witness after being dropped as a co-accused in an attempt to unravel the macabre murders. There had been doubts as to whether Warunge committed the murders alone, as he claimed in his earlier confessions to police.
