Monica murder: Jacque Maribe quizzed over Irungu's statement

Detectives investigating the murder of Monica Kimani on Thursday interrogated TV journalist Jacque Maribe to corroborate a statement made by the main suspect, 28-year-old Joseph Irungu, who is also her fiancé.

Detectives also want to establish who owns a gun and a bullet which were found in her bedroom and which have since been taken for examination.

Ms Maribe arrived at the Kilimani Police Station shortly after 2.30pm, accompanied by lawyer Katwa Kigen and members of her family.

She spent about 30 minutes at the Kilimani Directorate of Criminal Investigations offices before being escorted to the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road.

Detectives also examined Ms Maribe’s car, a Toyota Allion believed to have been used by Mr Irungu to visit Ms Kimani in her Lamuria Garden’s apartment on the day she was murdered

ANALYSIS

Ms Maribe’s car was also of interest to the detectives because Mr Irungu was driving it on Friday, the day he claimed that he was shot on the left shoulder by gunmen unknown to him as he left the Royal Park Apartment where the journalist lives.

The car was according to detectives not hit by any bullet.

Samples of blood on the driver’s seat were taken for forensic analysis.

After dusting the car, the detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation’s Homicide Unit, together with scene of crime analysts, moved to Ms Kimani’s apartment where they spent the whole day collecting samples for forensic analysis.

Kilimani OCPD Michael Muchiri said that aside from the circumstantial evidence that the detectives have already collected in connection to the murder on Wednesday last week, detectives are collecting samples for DNA matching to unmask Ms Kimani's killers.

“The forensic experts are thoroughly combing the scene of crime to find any clues in relation to the murder. They are trying to gather as much evidence as possible. There is a lot of dusting going on there to look for evidence,” Mr Muchiri said.

PROBE

At the house, police dusted the surfaces of furniture, two wine glasses found on the table, some other utensils, the bathtub where her body was found, towels and clothes.

Police sources familiar with the investigations also said that detectives had taken clothes that were on the body of the deceased and those that were worn by Mr Irungu when he visited her.

They include a white Kanzu that neighbours said he wore when he arrived at the house.

“So far the forensic officers are doing a good job, they are professionals. There is a lot of photography, dusting and generally piecing together of the clues,” Mr Muchiri said outside the deceased’s Lamuria Garden’s apartment.

Apart from the combing of the crime scene, a team of detectives have been sent to the United Arab Emirates and South Sudan to investigate the activities of Mr Irungu.

The DCI is also contemplating on sending a team of investigators to Afghanistan, where Mr Irungu worked earlier.

RESIDENCE

A United Arab Emirates Resident Identity Card number 784-1990-0858139-1, a Kenyan passport, a Kenyan Identity Card and other documents were confiscated from Mr Irungu.

Police are also studying his financial transactions.

On Thursday, a detective also revealed that it was hard to corroborate Mr Irungu's activities, as he had said he did not have his own house in Nairobi and only lived with his fiancée.

“We really do not believe that he had no residence of his own here in Nairobi, although we also believe that he used to spend most of his time at Monica’s house when she was away. We have information that he was taking care of this apartment but wanted to be involved in a love affair with the deceased,” a detective said.

The family of the deceased told detectives that Mr Irungu and the victim were students at the Kenya Polytechnic but they were not close, until the suspect started approaching her on social media, long after their studies were completed in 2011.

HOLIDAY

Ms Kimani, according to the police, was engaged to another man, Yassir Mohammed, who lives and works in Khartoum.

The couple was meant to meet for holiday in Dubai from Thursday last week.

Mr Irungu had on Monday told detectives that he was shot in the chest on Friday morning after he dropped Ms Maribe at her house in Lang'ata.

The police have, however, remained sceptical about this, as no watchman in the apartment and those nearby heard the gunshots.

Also, police officers at the Lang'ata Police Station - located just 200 metres from the apartment - did not hear any gunshot.

WOUND

The time taken to report the incident at the Lang'ata Police Station under OB number 79/21/9/2018, the general features of the wound on the chest and the fact that there was no exit wound was questionable.

On Wednesday, when the suspect appeared before Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Stella Atambo, Chief Investigating Officer Maxwell Otieno expressed that the investigators had doubts about the wound being inflicted by a bullet.

“Part of what we want to establish is whether the wound is indeed a gunshot wound. I am saying this because preliminarily the wound may turn out not to be a gunshot wound,” Mr Otieno told the court.