Warunge Declared Fit to Stand Trial for Murder of Four Family Members Including His US-Based Father

Lawrence Warunge, the 22-year-old student linked to the murder of five people including four members of his family has been declared fit to stand trial.

A mental assessment carried out on the suspect confirmed that he is of sound mind and can stand trial for the murder of his father, mother, brother, cousin, and a farmhand.

Lawrence, a student at Mt. Kenya University, allegedly admitted he killed his father Nicholas Njoroge, mother Ann Wanjiku, his brother Christian Njenga, cousin Maxwell Njenga, and the family’s farmhand James Kinyanjui. The five were murdered on the night of January 5th in Karura village, Kiambaa, Kiambu County.

Following his arrest, he led police to Mai Mahiu where he had disposed of the murder weapons and the clothes he wore during the massacre.

Lawrence, who is the eldest son of Njoroge, told detectives that he researched on the internet the best way to eliminate his victims, adding that he was motivated by Villanelle, a psychopathic killer in the British show “Killing Eve”.

On Monday, a Kiambu court allowed police to detain him together with his girlfriend, Sarah Muthoni for 14 days pending the completion of investigations.

Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor, who conducted a postmortem on the deceased said chances are very high that the four were murdered by one attacker. The examination further revealed that the knife used in the macabre killings had similar dimensions.

“All of them died because of multiple injuries which are caused by blunt and penetrating trauma and also a significant loss of blood,” said Oduor.

Njoroge, a US-based nurse who had returned to the country last month to spend Christmas with his family, and his son Christian suffered the most injuries, Oduor added. “It is like the person who killed the two was doing it with a lot of anger.” 

The four family members were laid to rest in their Karura home on Saturday.