Ex-KDF Major Peter Mugure sentenced to life for murder of wife, two children

Convicted former KDF Major Peter Mugure Mwaura. Photo: (Photo: Carolyne Kubwa)

By Carolyne Kubwa
Tuesday, July 14, 2026

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Ex-KDF Major Peter Mugure convicted of murdering wife, two children at Nanyuki Airbase

Carolyne Kubwa · 3 days ago

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The sentence follows last week's conviction in which Justice Muya found that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mugure murdered his 31-year-old wife, Joyce Syombua, their 10-year-old daughter Shanice Maua and five-year-old son, Prince Michael, before secretly burying their bodies in a shallow grave in Thigithu, Nanyuki.

The court relied on both direct and circumstantial evidence, including testimony from Mugure's former colleague, Collins Pamba, who admitted helping dispose of the bodies after entering into a plea agreement with the prosecution.

Pamba testified that he found Syombua's body wrapped in a gunny bag inside Mugure's house at the Nanyuki Airbase, while the children's bodies had been placed in a bathtub. He told the court they loaded the bodies into Mugure's vehicle, drove past the airbase gate and buried them in a shallow grave before covering it with soil.

Justice Muya found that the murders had been carefully planned. Evidence showed Mugure had visited the burial site before the killings and had lured his estranged wife and children to the airbase after a dispute over child maintenance.

"Evidence shows that the accused murdered his wife and two children, stacked their bodies in body bags and hid them in the boot of his car... This goes to say that the accused had hatched the plot to murder the deceased persons," the judge ruled.

A post-mortem established that Syombua died from blunt force trauma, while both children were strangled. DNA analysis also confirmed Mugure was the biological father of the two children, undermining his defence during the trial.

With the life sentence now imposed, the criminal proceedings against the former military officer have concluded, subject to any appeal he may file.