The detective cited fears of interference with witnesses, flight risk since the suspect operates between Nairobi and Dubai, where he is in the security industry/CFM NEWS
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 26 – Detectives have been granted 10 more days to hold Joseph Irungu alias Jowie, the main suspect in the murder of Monica Kimani.
This was after the Investigating Officer Maxwell Otieno told the court that they need to interrogate more witnesses, some of who are known to the suspect.
In his application for continued detention, the detective cited fears of interference with witnesses and flight risk since the suspect operates between Nairobi and Dubai, where he works in the security industry.
Issuing the ruling, Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Stella Atambo directed Irungu be taken to the Kijabe Mission Hospital where he has been receiving treatment for a wound he is said to have suffered from a gunshot.
“I am satisfied that the reasons advanced by the prosecution for such detention are compelling,” she ruled.
She has also directed that the suspect should be guaranteed access to his lawyers and family members.
Kimani was found murdered in her Kilimani apartment.
During the detention, detectives will carry an intense investigation, whose scope is set to extend to neighbouring South Sudan where Monica spent her last hours before she was killed.
“The investigator intends to extend the investigation to South Sudan were the deceased is said to have come from on the fateful day and interview and record the statements of witnesses believed to have crucial information regarding the deceased’s activities there,” reads the detective’s statement.
Police want to ascertain the nature of activities and whether it has anything to do with her murder.
Already, people of interest have been identified and will be recording statements.
They also want to establish whether the wound on the suspect’s left shoulder is indeed as a result of a gunshot.
Already police have taken DNA samples from the scene of the crime and want to match them with those of the suspect.
Detectives will also record more statements from “several witnesses” some of who are “known very well to the suspect; some are friends.”
Police believe the suspect was with other accomplices who are still at large.
READ: Police seek more time to detain Jowie in Monica’s murder
Police say he was positively identified by several witnesses who said he was in the suspect’s house on the fateful night.
Data retrieved from the police integrated command, control and communication (IC3) and his mobile phone show that Jowie was within the scene of the crime – an apartment in Kilimani estate.
Detectives have since confiscated the deceased’s car and mobile phone to conduct the further forensic analysis.
Both the car and phone were found at the scene of the incident.
Police say they have also confirmed that the suspect used a fake identity card at the main gate and was wearing a kanzu when he visited, suggesting he may have had an ulterior motive.
Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Jacinta Nyamosi told the court on Wednesday that “it is an investigation that is more intricate than what people are thinking.”
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