Jowie Irungu Stripped Of Bond, Sentencing Date Announced

Joseph Irungu, alias Jowie, has been stripped of his bond terms after he was found guilty of the murder of Nairobi businesswoman Monica Kimani in 2018.

Justice Grace Nzioka on Friday, February 9 made the ruling revoking his bond terms as he was taken into custody pending his sentencing.

Jowie will be sentenced on Friday, March 8, 2024, after he was convicted of Kimani's murder.

Lady Justice Grace Nzioka had indicated that the prosecution had proved to the court that the security personnel committed the offence of murder.

Former Citizen TV Anchor Jacque Maribe and Jowie Irungu in court on Friday, February 9, 2024. /ALINUR MOHAMED

Before the judgement, Justice Nzioka raised the following questions:

1. Whether Jowie Irungu knew Monica before her death
2. Whether he stole and used the stolen I.D to access where the deceased was staying
3. Whether the clothes he was wearing implicate him in the commission of the offence
4. Whether he was in the deceased house
5. Whether he was the last person to be seen with the deceased
6. Whether he had a gun and whether he was positively identified on the identification parade.

Justice Nzioka found that Jowie deliberately misled the court by denying any prior acquaintance with the late Monica Kimani, as she found conclusive evidence contradicting his assertions, establishing his prior knowledge of Monica Kimani before her tragic demise.

In 2023 during the trial, Jowie told the court that he never knew Kimani and never visited her city residence in Kilimani the night she was killed.

While defending himself against allegations of murdering Monica, Jowie told Justice Nzioka that he was not at her house in Lamuria Gardens when she was killed in September 2018.

“I never visited Monica at her residence and l never talked to her since l did not know her. I knew her brother George Kimani,” Jowie told the court.

"The 1st accused (Jowie Irungu) claimed he did not know the deceased at all. George Kimani, the deceased’s brother submitted that Jowie and Monica Kimani were in the same class in 2002 taking the same course in hotel and beverage management," the judge countered.

The court further agreed with the prosecution's evidence that the security personnel was the last person to be with the businesswoman before her death.

"When the Doctrine of Last Seen is applied, the law presumes that the person last seen with the deceased was responsible for their death, and the accused is supposed to present an explanation of what happened," she stated.

Furthermore, the court found that Jowie stole the identification card of Dominic Bisera Haron, a resident of the same Langata Road estate where Jowie and Jacque Maribe resided.

The ID presented to the guard by a person entering Monica's apartment complex on the fateful day had gone missing at the Royal Apartments, where Jowie and Jacque were residents, just two days before the tragic murder.