The murder case of businesswoman Monica Kimani has taken a new twist after a lawyer to the embattled suspect Joseph Irungu suggested in court on Tuesday that the entrepreneur could have died from starvation on September 18, 2018.
When he took to the trial stand to defend his client, David Ayuo took time to interrogate an expert witness in the trial on whether he had ascertained beyond any reasonable doubt that Monica Kimani’s death was not due to starvation.
The lawyer questioned the witnessed on whether there were any investigations on the victim’s stomach to ascertain that she had indeed died from murder and not any other probable causes including starvation.
“Did you open her oesophagus to ascertain the food Monica Kimani took that day? Did you open her stomach? Could we suggest that the cause of her death was as a result of starvation?” posed Mr Ayuo.
Jowie is facing charges alongside her alleged lover Citizen Tv’s journalist Jacque Maribe who was released last year on bail. The court had earlier Tuesday said it will rule on Wednesday whether it will bar the media from covering the trial.
Maribe and Jowie were both charged in late last year but both have since denied killing 29-year-old Kimani, on September 2018 at her Lamuria Gardens Apartment in Kilimani, Nairobi.
The interrogated witness is among the first of the 32 other witnesses who the prosecution had earlier on said that it intends to use against Jowie and Maribe.
Also on the line to witness are experts, according to submissions made to trial judge James Wakiaga on Tuesday. Lead prosecutor Catherine Mwaniki said four of the witnesses are protected while five will be expert witnesses.
Justice Wakiaga was told the prosecution intends to use photographs and other digital evidence to prove its case. Jowie’s plea to be released on bond has felt on deaf ears after the court denied him the bond for three successive times.