Hearing of Monica Kimani murder case suspended

Jacqueline Maribe (left) with Joseph Irungu at Milimani Law Courts. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

The hearing of a case over the murder of businesswoman Monica Kimani failed to proceed after one of the accused fell sick.

The court was informed that journalist Jacqueline Maribe is sick and cannot attend the trial in the case where she is facing trial with his former lover Joseph Irungu alias Jowie over the murder of Ms Kimani.

Trial Judge Grace Nzioka directed that fresh dates for hearings will be issued by the court when the lead investigating officer, Chief Inspector Maxwell Otieno will continue with his testimony.

Maribe and Jowie are accused of killing Ms Kimani on the night of September 19, 2018, at Lamuria Gardens in Kilimani after she returned from a business trip to South Sudan.

The investigating officer in his statement had told the court that Jowie and Maribe who at the time were darting and staying together at Royal Park Apartments in Langata were directly responsible for the murder of Ms Kimani.

Mr Otieno presented several exhibits and evidence collected by the homicide detectives to show how the two lovers played different roles before, during and after Ms Kimani’s death and backed it up with the items recovered from Ms Kimani’s home before her death.

Mr Otieno in his statement singled out twelve reasons why he concluded that Jowie was the person who unleashed the final blow leading to Ms Kimani death while for Maribe, the investigator gave five reasons to prove her involvement in the murder.

He had stated that Jowie was the last person with the deceased and DNA analysis by the government chemist confirmed that blood stains recovered on the brown shorts he wore on the night of the murder marched the blood samples of Ms Kimani.

A portrait of Monica Kimani during her burial at Kairi Village in Gilgil, Nakuru. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

He added that during an identification parade, three witnesses positively identified Jowie as having been in Ms Kimani’s house on the night she was killed while another witness confirmed that Jowie had told him he was going to visit his girlfriend who had just returned from South Sudan.

Mr Otieno’s evidence against Maribe was that her car was spotted close to the scene of the murder and that she was seen in the same car the night Ms Kimani was killed.

According to the investigator, Maribe was within the area of the incident and switched off her phone around the time the murder was allegedly being committed and later witnessed when Jowie burnt his clothes to destroy evidence outside her residence.

Mr Otieno stated further that both Jowie and Maribe were spotted at Club 40 in Westlands almost immediately after the murder incident and later seen in the same car driving to their residence.