NYERI, Kenya, Aug 3 — The Employment and Labour Relations Court has declared a decision by the Kenya Defence Forces to withhold retirement benefits of a former Air Force officer facing murder charges unlawful.
Major Peter Mugure was arraigned in court on November 18, 2019 and later charged on January 10, 2020 over the murder of his wife and two children.
He consequently sought to resign to preserve his benefits but his superiors ordered his termination prompting a legal challenge.
While rendering a verdict in a petition by Mugure’s lawyer George Gori, Justice Onesmus Makau has awarded Mugure Sh2 million in damages over the unprocedural termination.
“In the foregoing if find that accused conditional rights were trumped upon I therefore make the following order that the accused is entitled to his termination benefits including pension ,the court further make order that he be awarded Sh2 million for damages and further he be compensated for any injuries occasioned during his service,” Justice Makau stated.
Mugure, accused of killing his wife Syombua and two children in September 2019, has been in custody since his initial arraignment in court after he was denied bail over the likelihood of witness tampering.
In a decision rendered on February 21, 2020, Justice Jairus Ngaah sitting at the Nyeri High Court noted the suspect had sent his sister to persuade a co-suspect in the murder case to recant a statement he’d recorded with the police.
Dumped bodies
A co-accused had narrated to the court how Mugure called him and handed over the bodies for disposal. The witness said Mugure promised him a job in the military during a subsequent recruitment exercise.
“He told me not to be shocked. [Mugure] told me this is the job he’d called me for. He told me never to tell me what I’d seen and if he ever heard anything he’d also kill me. [Mugure] also assured me that he’d make sure that I will be recruited to the military during a national recruitment which was near.He told me to help him carry the bodies to his car,” the co-accused told the court.
Major Peter Mugure was arrested after detectives recovered the bodies of his estranged wife Joyce Syombua (31), children Shanice Maua (10) and Prince Michael (5) at a cemetery in Thingithu area near the Laikipia Air Base on Saturday.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations’ (DCI) Serious Crimes Unit indicated the bodies had been piled on top of each other inside a shallow grave.
The accused was said to have hosted the three at the Laikipia Air Base where they stayed before departing for Nairobi where they lived.
Collins Pamba, a 21-year-old worker at the senior officer’s mess within the military base led detectives to the cemetery where the bodies of the three victims were exhumed.
Major Mugure was arrested on November 15, 2019 days after his wife and children went missing and just a day before their bodies were discovered.
Syombua the children disappeared on October 25 after visiting Major Mugure in Nanyuki.
The air force officer had prior to the incident been ordered to pay maintenance costs for his two children after a DNA test to establish his paternity turned positive.
