Literally a few hours after Jacque Maribe and Jowie Irungu appeared in court to take plea over the murder of Monica Kimani to which they both pleaded guilty, the prosecution has now asked the court not to grant Miss Maribe and Mr. Irungu bail on the grounds that they might interfere with the ongoing investigations if released.
According to an affidavit by Investigation Officer, Maxwell Otieno, the residence of the late Monica Kimani and Miss Maribe are considered crime scenes and thus; if released on bail, the accused is likely to tamper with the ongoing investigations. He added that by virtue of Miss Maribe being a public figure with associations with people of influence, her release may threaten or intimidate the key prosecution witnesses.
“There is a likelihood of the accused persons interfering and intimidating the key prosecution witnesses if released on bail and therefore justifiable to subject the accused to pretrial detention noting that some of the key witnesses are the house help manager who was with them prior to the fatal incident and after, watchmen and other key witnesses.” reads the affidavit.
Mr. Otieno said that there are current investigations to establish the amount of money that may have been taken from Monica’s house the night she was murdered.
Earlier today in court, Judge Lessit directed that the bail application to be heard on Wednesday, 17th October after Maribe’s lawyer expressed that his client had been in custody for two weeks and should released on bail.
With this new direction from the office of the director of public prosecutions, all eyes and ears are on the High Court judge to make a ruling on whether the two will be granted bail.