Kenya Defense Forces Ex-major Peter Mugure and Collins Pamba are set to be prosecuted with 26 witnesses against them.
The duo will answer to charges of the murder of Joyce Syombua, a 34-year-old woman with her two children at Laikipia Airbase in Nanyuki.
The 21-year-old Pamba, who was a casual labourer at the airbase together with Mugure allegedly committed the crime on October 26, 2019, but they denied the charges.
While briefing senior assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Peter Mailanyi, Defense counsel Lucy Mwai and state prosecutor Mark Barasa had recommended the court to allow for a consecutive hearing of the case but judge Jairus Ngaah opposed the recommendation saying that it was impossible for all witnesses to appear before the court for seven days consecutively.
The prosecutor affirmed that 17 witnesses' statements were already submitted and only 3 were pending submissions as the remaining six are expert witnesses, a doctor who conducts a postmortem report, a government analyst who analysed the crime scene, two Safaricom staff to produce communication and Mpesa statements of the suspects and psychiatrists.
“The state has already served witness statements for 17 witnesses. However, we are yet to serve statements for three witnesses which we will be serving in due course together with the report from government analysts,” he said as quoted.
Prosecutor Barasa also stated that the exhibit memo of the one taken by the government analyst was forwarded to the defense lawyer.
The defense lawyer proposed that the team should meet before the hearing date to ensure all requirements were met, an idea which Judge Ngaah opposed stating that the court will proceed with those that are ready.
The case will be mentioned on February 12 pending hearing on March 23.