Witness says bullets found in Maribe ceiling

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 26 Jun, 2019 10:20 | 3 mins read

Bernice Mbugua @BerniceMuhindi

Crime scene experts found ammunition, spent cartridges wrapped in white paper, and two empty magazines in a briefcase hidden in the ceiling in Citizen TV journalist Jacque Maribe’s house, the High Court heard yesterday.

The officers made the finding on October 7, 2018 at about 2.30pm.

The murder trial of Maribe and her fiancé, Joseph Irungu alias Jowie alias Harun, kicked off yesterday, with a display of graphic, colour photographs of the murder scene, which painted a gory picture of the night Monica Kimani met her death.

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Crime scene officer Jennifer Jepkosgei Sirwa tabled 50 colour photos showing the murder scene at the Kilimani apartment where Monica lived and tabled 26 others taken at Maribe’s house in Royal Park, Lang’ata.

The court heard that officers from homicide found a briefcase wrapped in a nylon sack hidden in the ceiling of Maribe’s house.

“This was a secondary scene. I took 59 photographs,” Sirwa told the court. The officer told Justice James Wakiaga she went to Maribe’s house on request by DCIO Kilimani to join the homicide team from Lang’ata DCI.

The police corporal displayed horrifying photos of Monica’s lifeless body found at her bathtub with hands and legs tied together with straps.“The pictures show the scene of crime, the upper part of the deceased’s body, thigh, arms, and the injuries on the neck,” she illustrated to court.

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She further showed a towel soaked in blood, which she claimed was used to wipe blood in the living room.

A pathologist, Dr Peter Muriuki Ndegwa, who conducted a post-mortem on the body of Monica told the court she died of hemorrhage due to “forced trauma which was caused by a sharp object”.

He said the deceased was oozing blood from the nose and her private parts and there was a likelihood she was sexually abused.

During cross-examination, the pathologist could not ascertain the exact time Monica Kimani passed on after her throat was slit on September 19, 2018. “The time of death is a technical, scientific issue which relies on opinion,” he said.

The case proceeds today, with the crime scene officer expected to table 44 more photographs taken at Maribe’s house.

Maribe and Jowie pleaded afresh to the murder charge after the prosecution amended the charge sheet to include a second alias in the names of Irungu, alias Jowie.

In her opening remarks, prosecution counsel Catherine Mwaniki said Monica was vibrant and full of life. Maribe’s lawyer, Katwa Kigen protested, saying the fundamental question was whether his client was culpable (in the killing) and not who Monica was.

“Defence is opposing the question of who Monica is. The line the prosecution has taken is a waste of judicial resource,” he argued.

But the judge allowed Mwaniki to describe Monica’s profile in her opening remarks. Mwaniki told the court the prosecution would call witnesses to prove that on that material day, the deceased flew from Juba to Kenya, went to her residence and that Jowie was left in her company and her lifeless body was found the following day in her bathtub.

“The prosecution will prove there was an attempted cover-up by the accused persons and we will ask the honourable court to find the two guilty of the offence of murder,” she told the court.

Meanwhile, three newspaper reporters and their editors were yesterday summoned to appear in court today for breaching court reporting guidelines by disclosing the identities of witnesses, who are under the Witness Protection Programme.

The prosecution sought to have media corps barred from covering the trial, saying the exposure could jeopardise the prosecution case. Justice Wakiaga is expected to rule on the application today.