Police have questioned renowned model Diana Nekoye Sifuna over the death of her boyfriend Charlie Grieves-Cook, who died after jumping off from the woman’s third floor apartment.

Nekoye, a former MNET Face of Africa contestant recorded a statement with CID officers who went with her to the house on Lang’ata Road, where she recounted to them what happened that Saturday night, when Grieves-Cook died.

Lang’ata divisional Police chief David Bunei confirmed that Nekoye had been questioned and was cooperating with officers investigating Grieves-Cook’s death.

The deceased was a Commercial Advertising Photographer at EyeQueue Productions based in Nairobi.

“Our officers have spoken to her and she is assisting us with the investigation. She is very crucial in the whole investigation because she has a firsthand account of what happened at the scene,” Bunei told Capital News on telephone. Nekoye recorded a statement on Sunday evening.

In her statement to the police, Nekoye said she rushed to the balcony when the thugs were gone and found Grieves-Cook holding onto a metal bar, his legs hanging in the air and she wasn’t able to pull him up.

She went back to the house to try and get something that could help her pull him up back up but when she returned to the balcony, he wasn’t there. That is when she saw his body lying on the concrete where he had fallen, most likely after running out of energy.

Bunei said they would also interview a guard who was shot by the gangsters when he tried to confront them with a panga. No suspect had been arrested by Monday.

“The guard sustained injuries on the arm and is in hospital. Once he is discharged we are also going to speak to him because it is part of the investigation,” he added.

Grieves-Cook, a renowned commercial photographer and a tour company director died on Saturday night when he fell off the third floor balcony of Nekoye’s house while fleeing gangsters who had attacked them in the house, according to police and guards at the apartment.

A guard at Desert Rose Apartments where Nekoye stays told Capital News that the model was last seen there late Sunday, when she went with police officers who had re-visited the scene.

“Nekoye was here yesterday (Sunday). She had not been here since Saturday when the incident happened. They came with the police who went up to her house on 3rd floor. The police had come to re-visit the scene and they were even shown where Grieves-Cook landed and died when he fell down,” the guard said.

There were visible blood stains on the spot on the concrete floor where Cook landed and died.

“You can see we just washed the blood yesterday…but you can see these stains, this is where he was found and rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead,” the guard said. Grieves-Cook’s body was taken to the Lee Funeral Home.

Capital News unsuccessfully tried to contact Nekoye for the better part of Monday.

A lady who identified herself as Sheila picked up Nekoye’s phone and told this reporter the model was not willing to discuss the matter with the press “at the moment because she is still devastated.”

“This is Sheila, Diana’s friend. She has told me to inform you she is still devastated and she does not want to talk to anyone, especially the press,” the lady said before she hung up the phone.

According to the guard at the apartment, Nekoye and her boyfriend Grieves-Cook were in the house at about 8 pm when two young men dressed in track suits casually walked in.

“Nekoye stays on third floor and you see there was a party on the second floor, so the main gate was open and these two young men dressed in tracksuits just walked. The guard on duty thought they were going to the party but later on he heard a gunshot upstairs and he rushed to see. That is when he was confronted and shot in the arm,” the guard told Capital News.

Police believe the assailants were after Grieves-Cook because even after entering the house they did not steal anything.

“There is every reason to believe they were after Grieves-Cook because they searched around the house and were asking where he is and when they failed to locate him, they shot on the wall and fled,” a police officer privy to the investigation said.

BY BERNARD MOMANYI