Murder suspect to be held for 10 days pending probe into woman’s murder

Joseph Kuria Irungu is escorted by detectives outside Kiambu Law Court yesterday after a miscellaneous application by the prosecution to have him detained pending investigations was upheld. [Kamau Maichuhie/Standard]

A man arrested after the murder of a woman in Nairobi will be detained for 10 days.

Joseph Kuria Irungu, who was on Tuesday arrested in connection with the murder of Monica Nyawira Kimani in her house in Kilimani, Nairobi, will remain in custody as police conduct investigations.

Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Stella Atambo yesterday ruled that Irungu be remanded at Muthaiga Police Station in Nairobi.

Irungu was produced in court by the prosecution and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers, who were seeking to be allowed to hold the suspect for 14 days in order to conclude investigations into the murder.

Ms Atambo also ruled that the suspect be taken to MP Shah Hospital in Nairobi for an MRI, which he had been scheduled to undergo, according to his lawyers, and later be taken to Kijabe Mission Hospital for treatment.

Irungu’s lawyers, Lawrence Mbabu, Sammy Nyaberi and Leichani Mugambi, opposed the prosecution's application, arguing that it would be inhuman to continue holding the suspect in police custody, yet he had a serious injury in his chest.

Sick person

They pleaded with the court to first order the suspect be taken to hospital before the application could be heard.

"The reasons advanced by the investigating officer do not justify the continued holding of a sick person in police custody," Mr Nyaberi said.

However, the prosecution, through its lead counsel, Jacinta Nyamosi, opposed the application.

Ms Nyamosi told the court they believe the suspect had a hand in the murder of Ms Kimani, who was found in her bathtub with her throat slit.

She told the court they needed time to get and analyse mobile telephone data of the suspect and others in order to establish those involved in the murder.

She said the investigations were complex and would go beyond recording of statements.

The prosecutor told the court the injuries the suspect was nursing were themselves the subject of investigations.

She opposed the application by the defence to have the suspect released either on bond or bail in order to seek medical treatment.

“The suspect has already been taken to hospital and he is under medication,” she said.

Investigation officer Maxwell Otieno told the court preliminary investigations showed the suspect was in Kimani's house the night she was killed.