The High Court in Nairobi will Friday, December 15 deliver a judgment in the murder case against Joshua Irungu alias Jowie and former TV news anchor Jacqueline Maribe.
The two ex-lovers are charged with the murder of businesswoman Monica Kimani who was found dead with her throat slit at her Nairobi home in September 2018.
The verdict was to be delivered on October 6 but was postponed after Lady Justice Grace Nzioka was reported to be sick
This was also the conclusion of the trial in July when the defense handed in their final submissions where Irungu and Maribe, through their lawyers, asked the court to acquit them.
They argued that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were culpable of killing Monica who was found brutally murdered at her Lamuria Gardens apartment.
Maribe’s lawyer, Katwa Kigen, specifically argued that none of the witnesses had incriminated the former news anchor during the case proceedings.
“The case is based on circumstantial evidence; there’s no direct evidence against the second accused person, ” Maribe’s lawyer said.
Kigen argued that Maribe was not aware of the existence of Monica and there was no DNA evidence linking her to Monica’s murder.
“There was no blood group association between the blood that was found and the accused and there’s no confession that would suggest that she had a hand in the death of Monica,” Kigwen argued.
“There’s no telephone data to demonstrate that she communicated with the deceased, Maribe has given timings of where she was and the people she was with when Monica’s murder allegedly occurred.
The prosecution has confirmed both the location and times so where is the entry point then?” he posed.
The judge had in March this year ruled the two have a case to answer.
Jowie is the first accused person in the murder trial of Monica.
He was charged alongside Jacque Maribe in 2018.
The woman’s badly mutilated body was found at her Lamuria Gardens Apartment on Kitale Lane off Denis Pritt Road in Kilimani, Nairobi.
She had arrived from Juba, South Sudan when she was murdered in the house on September 19, 2018.
The prosecution called 35 witnesses who testified against the two.
Although they have denied knowing Monica or being involved in her death, Assistant DPP Gikui Gichuki has said the evidence they presented in court is sufficient to have them convicted.
Gichuki said as per witness testimony, Jowie was placed in the house of the deceased and was positively identified during the identification parade.
The prosecutor said the two had a common intention and acted in concert to eliminate the deceased.
Gichuki relied on a court of appeal judgment that held that aiding and abetting generally means somehow to assist in the commission of a crime or to be an accomplice.
The state has also told the court to consider the fact that Maribe made no attempt to disassociate herself from the actions of Jowie and instead helped him to burn evidence.
“The demeanor of Jowie and Maribe should also be taken into account at the time of investigations, which entailed giving false information to the police to during the trial where the accused in some cases missed court proceedings,” she said.
In regards to the second accused person, Jackie Maribe, the prosecution submitted that she was at that time the partner of the first accused and was living together.
Gichuki added that Maribe was the owner of the vehicle used in a criminal enterprise.
“She also allowed the gun to be kept in her house yet she had a young child…
It should be noted in testimony produced in this court that she lied to the police consistently regarding how the first accused person was injured,” the DPP said.
Monica’s father is currently in the US where he is studying theology and a family friend said he is keenly following the case.
