Jowie now sues the Govt., wants to be accompanied to police post to report his grievances

Joseph Irungu, alias Jowie, the key suspect in the murder of city businesswoman Monica Kimani, has sued the State over what he terms as “inhuman treatment” while under lawful detention.

In an application filed by his lawyer, Hassan Nandwa, at the Milimani Law Courts, Jowie has asked the court to order the Commissioner of Prisons to stop subjecting him to “cruel treatment”.

The suspect is also seeking to have the courts order the Commissioner of Prisons to escort him to Kiambu Police Station to report an incident in which, he claims, he was assaulted by prison warders while at Kamiti maximum detention center.

Jowie also wants he be escorted to Kiambu Level 5 Hospital for medical examination and a subsequent filling of a P3 form to document his alleged injuries.

In the court papers, Jowie claims one of the senior prison warders at Kamiti threatened to kill him.

The suspect, who was transferred from Kamiti to Manyani Maximum Prison last Friday (December 6), further alleges that he has been mixed with inmates who are serving jail terms for capital offences.

Jowie claims the cell, in which he occupies, is infested with lice and snakes.

The suspect, in the application, says t he is on hunger strike to express his frustrations.

"It is only fair and just in the wider interest of injustice that the applicant reports his assault for legal action against the prison officers culpable," said Jowie’s lawyer.

In a sworn affidavit, the applicant’s father, Julius Irungu Mwangi, said he and his wife, Anastacia Irungu, visited their son on December 9 at the Manyani Maximum Prison in Voi, but were not allowed to see him until the following day.

Julius claims that his son confided in him that a prison warder at Kamiti had vowed to throw him in a hole that will make it hard for his family to find him.

Jowie’s application, in which he has listed the State and Commissioner of Prisons as the respondents, was filed under the certificate of urgency, and served upon the director of public prosecutions.