Nairobi News

For hours on February 9, 2024, Justice Grace Nzioka finally read the judgement in the murder case of businesswoman Monica Kimani. The main accused persons are Joseph Irungu alias Jowie and his ex-fiancée, former TV girl Jacque Maribe.

Ms Monica Kimani was brutally murdered in her Lamuria Garden apartment on September 19, 2018. She had just arrived from South Sudan and met up with friends. She was found dead after numerous phone calls by her brother, Mr George Kimani, were unanswered, forcing him to go to her house. Ms Kimani was found dead in her bathtub.

Jowie Irungu was placed at the scene of the crime following investigations and Ms Maribe was linked to the murder for assisting Mr Irungu to destroy evidence linked to the crime. The prosecution argued before court that the duo had a common intention and “acted in convert to eliminate the deceased.”

The judgment reading comes after it was postponed twice due to various reasons including Ms Maribe’s poor health and weeks earlier considering the judgment was set to be read on March 15, 2024.

Below are the key highlights from the judgment reading ahead of the final ruling:

1. Jowie Irungu stole the national identification card of Mr Dominic Bisera, who had been seeking work in the estate in which the accused lived. He then used the identification card two days later to access Monica Kimani’s Lamuria Gardens apartment. He was the last person seen with Ms Kimani before she was found murdered in her bathroom.
2. Jowie Irungu was found to have lied not knowing Monica Kimani prior to her gory murder as witnesses, including Ms Kimani’s brother, placed Jowie in her house on previous visits as well as having casual conversations with her on social media messages including about ‘spoiling’ her brother with drinks.
3. Witnesses were able to corroborate evidence that Jowie Irungu wore certain clothes on the night of the murder as he had been spotted in the same clothes at different locations before he went home and burnt the key clothe- a white kanzu- and allegedly aided by Jacque Maribe in destroying evidence. A pair of shorts he had also worn on the material day was found to have Ms Kimani’s blood in it.
4. Jacque Maribe filed two statements following the murder and later the shooting incident involving Jowie Irungu and Brian Kassaine’s gun. The judge found that Ms Maribe lied in her initial statement before filing the second one.
5. It was found that Jowie borrowed Kassaine’s gun for the purposes of subduing Ms Kimani as opposed to earlier claims he borrowed it to go for shooting training.
6. Jacque Maribe sought to distance herself from Monica Kimani’s murder, saying her role in this case began a day later when she dealt with Jowie’s shooting incidence. She defended herself that she could not be linked to the murder because she had nothing to do with it.
7. Jacque Maribe sought to distance herself from Monica Kimani’s murder, saying her role in this case began a day later when she dealt with Jowie’s shooting incidence. She defended herself that she could not be linked to the murder because she had nothing to do with it.

At the end of the judgement reading, Justice Nzioka found Jowie Irungu had killed Monica Kimani and acquitted Jacque Maribe. The murder case was based on circumstantial evidence but the court found that the prosecution met the threshold.

“Prosecution did not place Maribe in Monica’s house or ever communicated with her. Their evidence brought against her relates to the events of the shooting incident,” said Justice Nzioka as she faulted the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for filing the wrong charges against Ms Maribe.

The Judge found that Ms Maribe had lied in her statements to the police, and as such, should be charged with committing the offense of giving false information to a person in public service.