The High Court in Nairobi has convicted four men of murdering former Kabete Member of Parliament George Muchai, along with his two police bodyguards and driver, during a February 2015 shooting in the capital. Justice Kanyi Kimondo delivered the ruling, finding Eric Mungera Isabwa, Raphael Kimani Gachii, Mustafa Kimani Anyoni, and Stephen Astiva Lipopo guilty on all counts. The judge established that state prosecutors proved the murder charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The four legal counts stem from the deaths of Muchai, police constables Samuel Kimathi Kailikia and Samuel Lekakeny Matanta, and driver Stephen Ituu Wambugu. State prosecutors demonstrated that the four men carried out the coordinated attack along Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue during the night of February 6 and 7, 2015. The court heard that the attack was a culmination of a series of violent crimes committed by the gang.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors presented evidence detailing the late-night attack and tracking the suspects’ movements. Police Officer Sergeant Moses Otiu Opiyo testified that the gunman shot Muchai and the three other occupants of his vehicle at close range. Ballistic analysis linked a recovered G3 rifle directly to a firearm previously stolen from a police officer.
Justice Kimondo also weighed evidence connecting the suspects to a series of violent carjackings and armed robberies across Nairobi just hours before the deadly ambush on Kenyatta Avenue. The court heard that the gang was involved in three separate incidents over the same weekend in February 2015, during which they stole property valued at approximately Sh1.1 million.
Defense attorneys consistently challenged the prosecution’s evidence and maintained their clients’ innocence throughout the trial. However, the court ruled that the state’s evidence met the necessary legal threshold to secure a conviction. Three co-defendants, Jane Wanjiru Kamau, Margaret Njeri Wachiuri, and Simon Wambugu Gichamba, were acquitted after the court found insufficient evidence to require them to present a defence.
This murder trial ran separately from a parallel robbery-with-violence case involving crimes committed around the same timeframe. In April 2026, Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina sentenced all four men to death in that distinct case. The two other co-accused women received 10-year prison terms for their roles in the crimes.
With the murder conviction now secured, the four men await sentencing following their upcoming mitigation pleas. The court handed Jane Wanjiru and Margaret Njeri 10-year prison terms each for the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
Key points
- Four men convicted of murdering former Kabete MP George Muchai and three others in a 2015 shooting in Nairobi.
- The murder trial was separate from a robbery-with-violence case, in which the four men were sentenced to death in April 2026.
- Three co-defendants were acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
