Television journalist Jacque Maribe spent last night at the Gigiri Police Station as detectives investigating the murder of Ms Monica Kimani narrowed down on several crucial leads into the fatal attack last week.
Gigiri Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Richard Mugwai told the Sunday Nation that Ms Maribe had been locked up at the station and would appear in court tomorrow.
“She has been brought here by the DCI officers. She will be taken to court on Monday,” Mr Mugwai said without elaborating on the nature of charges Ms Maribe could face.
The detectives had spent the better part of Saturday interrogating Ms Maribe regarding the murder of Ms Kimani.
They also searched her house for any leads to the murder.
The detectives, drawn mainly from the Serious Crimes wing of the Directorate of Criminal Intelligence (DCI), had spent hours at Ms Maribe’s residence in Nairobi’s Lang’ata estate on Friday night in search of the gun which was allegedly in the possession of her fiancé, Joseph Irungu, alias Jowie.
FIREARM
They were also searching for the suspected weapon used in Ms Kimani’s murder and which they believe is a crucial component in the case facing Mr Irungu.
Further, the detectives were also in search of money, said to be a sizeable amount, they believe was in Ms Kimani’s possession at the time of her murder.
A source within the investigating team said the discovery of the gun, the killer weapon and the money would help them firm up the case against Ms Kimani’s killers and their accomplices.
It is after this search and a further statement from the television journalist that the police decided to arrest her.
A police source said a “significant discovery” during the search and contradictions in Ms Maribe’s story convinced them to treat her as a suspect rather than a witness.
Early Saturday, Ms Maribe was driven to the Kilimani police station where she spent hours being interrogated over the murder.
She was later driven to the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road for further grilling where she was joined by her lawyer Katwa Kigen.
“It is true she has been called to the DCI headquarters to clarify a few matters,” a source close to Ms Maribe and who is privy to the investigation said.
PROBE
The fresh leads came as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that the deceased, Ms Kimani, was not their employee in Juba, South Sudan, from where she had flown into the country days before her gruesome murder.
Yesterday was the third day the journalist was being interrogated by the detectives as mystery regarding the murder deepened.
The detectives first interrogated Ms Maribe at the Kilimani police station on Thursday before driving her to DCI headquarters later that afternoon.
She was only released at around midnight but on orders that she reports to the DCI for further questioning on Friday morning where she was quizzed for close to four hours before being allowed to go home.
On Friday night, the detectives returned to her residence and conducted a search which lasted several hours before they left at around 4 am Saturday.
The detectives later returned early morning and picked her up for further questioning at Kilimani police station before driving her to the DCI headquarters.
ANALYSIS
Throughout the interrogation, Ms Maribe was tasked with corroborating a statement by the main suspect in the murder, Mr Irungu, 28, who is also in custody.
On Friday, the detectives examined Ms Maribe’s car, a Toyota Allion, believed to have been used by Mr Irungu to visit Ms Kimani in Lamuria Gardens apartment off Nairobi’s Dennis Pritt Road on the day she was murdered.
They also moved to Ms Kimani’s apartment where they collected samples for forensic analysis.
From tomorrow, three people — a radio presenter, a television director and a news presenter — are also expected to record statements with the police in relation to what they know about Ms Maribe and Mr Irungu.
The three are expected to give “character evidence”. “They hold very key information that will help us in the investigations,” the source said.
It is still not clear whether the detectives will proceed with their investigations to Dubai and Afghanistan where Mr Irungu is believed to have lived for some time.
However, investigations by the Sunday Nation reveal that the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship in Dubai still considers Mr Irungu as a Kenyan expatriate in UAE.
REPORT
Documents within the Authority reveal that he created application for his Dubai residential card numbered 784-1990-0858139-1 in May 2016.
A month later, he received the card which is scheduled to expire in the next 13 years.
In relation to the gun, the television journalist told investigators that she once saw Mr Irungu with it but warned him against carrying it to her house.
Tomorrow, police expect to receive the results of a medical report from the Kijabe Mission Hospital in Kiambu County where Mr Irungu claims to have rushed to for medical attention after being shot and wounded outside Ms Maribe’s residence a day after Ms Kimani was murdered.
The detectives want to ascertain whether the wound is from a bullet.
Questions are also being raised as to why the couple opted to drive all the way to Kijabe Mission Hospital located more than 60km on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.