The High Court in Nyeri has sentenced 35-year-old Nicholas Julius Macharia to death for the murder of seven-year-old Tamara Blessing Kabura.
While handing down the sentence on Thursday, February 19, Justice Magare Kizito addressed Macharia’s decision to plead guilty, noting that it did not lessen the gravity of the offence.
He argued that the admission of guilt may be useful in other cases but not for murder, especially one as heinous as his.
"Though you pleaded guilty, that plea of guilty does not by itself remove the seriousness of the sentence. It is a good thing to save judicial time, but the mere fact that time was saved in the hearing of this matter does not shorten the sentence. It may be useful in smaller cases, but for murder, that does not count," he said.
Macharia was convicted over the killing of the
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Tamara, a Grade One pupil at Judah Academy was killed on May 24, 2025, within Nyeri Township.
The court heard that on the evening of her murder, the child met Macharia, a man familiar with her family through her mother and grandmother.
Trusting him, she accompanied him to his house in Witemere, where he defiled her, killed her and concealed her body under his bed in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Tamara had earlier been reported missing by her mother, Susan Wanjiru, after she disappeared from the Nyeri Town open-air market, where Wanjiru runs a small business.
A desperate two-day search ended after CCTV footage from a nearby car spare parts shop showed Macharia walking with the child towards his residence.
Detectives arrested Macharia on May 26, 2025, and he later led them to his house where the girl’s body was recovered.
A post-mortem examination conducted at the County Referral Hospital mortuary on May 30, 2025, established that the minor had been defiled before being suffocated to death.
Investigators told the court that Macharia had recorded a confession a day before the examination, admitting to committing the offence.
This comes months after a Kithimani court sentenced a man to death for attacking and stealing from the mother of former Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo.
In a statement on Thursday, November 13, 2025, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said the convict, identified as Josephat Mutuku Kasyema, was found guilty of a brutal assault on 80-year-old Agnes Njeri Kilonzo.
"A Kithimani court has sentenced a man to death for attacking and stealing from the mother of former Member of Parliament Charles Kilonzo. Josephat Mutuku Kasyema was sentenced to serve a death sentence for attacking Agnes Njeri Kilonzo, an 80-year-old woman," the statement read.
The court heard that Kasyema not only robbed the elderly woman but also inflicted serious injuries during the attack.
"The court heard that the accused robbed the victim of her mobile phone, a Samsung Galaxy J2 valued at Ksh15,000, and an unknown amount of cash and cut her on her head using a panga," the statement added.
According to the prosecution, after assaulting the victim, the attacker tied her up and left her for dead inside her home before help eventually arrived.
"The accused person is said to have tied the victim with ropes and left her alone in the house before he was rescued later," the statement further read.
According to the ODPP, the attack left the elderly victim with lasting injuries, including the loss of speech.
"The court ruled that the attack was so vicious and heartless that it led Agnes to lose the power of speech," the statement concluded.
