A High Court sitting in Nyeri has sentenced 35-year-old Nicholus Julius Macharia to death.

The sentence follows trial of the infamous brutal defilement and murder of a seven-year-old girl, identified by the initials TBK, in May 2025.

Justice Kizito Magare delivered the verdict on Thursday, February 19, 2026, describing a crime of “moral depravity” that shook the Witemere community to its core.

While Macharia initially denied the charges, he eventually buckled under the weight of the evidence and pleaded guilty, later attempting to blame his actions on “the devil”, a defense the judge flatly rejected.

“The devil is not on trial here,” Justice Magare noted, asserting that the responsibility rested solely with Macharia.

The evidence presented in court painted a terrifying picture of the minor’s final moments.

CCTV footage captured Macharia luring the child, a person she and her family trusted. Forensic reports and a post-mortem examination revealed that the girl was violently defiled and subjected to severe physical trauma before being murdered.

Perhaps most disturbing was the discovery that Macharia buried the child in a shallow grave inside his own house.

Justice Magare pointed out that the convict continued to live in the house for days, fully aware that he had transformed a place of residence into a tomb.

The autopsy concluded the child died of suffocation, enduring immense pain before she passed.

Throughout the proceedings, Macharia pleaded for leniency but notably failed to express any remorse for the life he had taken.

Justice Magare weighed the two possible sentences, life imprisonment and death, noting that while life imprisonment is often the standard for defilement, the added gravity of a premeditated murder and the breach of trust warranted the ultimate penalty.

The judge cited Article 26(3) of the Constitution and the Prisons Act, affirming that the death penalty remains a lawful and necessary deterrent for crimes of such extreme inhumanity.

As the sentence was read out, the court acknowledged the “victim impact statement” from the child’s mother, who described a community still haunted by the loss.