Jackie Maribe- Jowie Irungu case postponed after unknown illness hit

The hearing of slain Businesswoman Monica Kimani’s case was postponed after one of the accused persons, ex- Citizen TV journalist Jackie Maribe failed to appear in court citing sickness.

High Court judge Grace Nzioka was convinced by Maribe’s defence team not to issue a warrant of arrest for the journalist as she had never missed to appear for any hearing of the case. According to her lawyers, Maribe was hospitalized at a city medical facility although there was no proof of her illness presented in court.

“She has been appearing in court without fail and has been traumatized by this case as indicated earlier. Give her a benefit of doubt,” her lawyer Hassan Nandwa said in her defence.

The push for the issuance of the warrant of arrest came from the prosecution team who said the lack of documentation proving the former journalist’s illness was not convincing to the court . The Judge however postponed the trial to July 18,2022.

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Jowie Irungu and Jackie Maribe when they appeared in court Jowie Irungu and Jackie Maribe when they appeared in court Pulse Live Kenya

Jackie Maribe and Joseph ‘Jowie’ Irungu are accused of killing Monica Kimani in her apartment at Lamuria gardens in Kilimani in September 19, 2018.

In the last hearing of the case, the prosecution team presented various evidences among them clothes, swabs of blood substances, DNA samples, a firearm and bullet which were found in the scene of crime and from Maribe’s apartment.

According to the Prosecution witness, Jowie Irungu visited Monica at her house shortly after she arrived from South Sudan. He was dressed in a maroon cap, a grey coat and a white kanzu and that she introduced him to her neighbor as a security person.

TV anchor Jackie Maribe and her fiance Jowie TV anchor Jackie Maribe and her fiance Jowie Pulse Live Kenya

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When the hearing resumes Chief Inspector Maxwell Otieno is expected to proceed with the his testimony who says the that Maribe's car was spotted close to the scene of the murder and that she was seen in the same car the night the late Kimani was killed.