I lied about being shot by thugs, Jowie now admits

A portrait of businesswoman Monica Kimani. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

According to Jowie, he took Maribe to work in the morning on the day Ms Kimani was killed and returned to their house, at Royal Park Estate in Langata, Nairobi, until 5.30 pm when he went back to pick her up.

He decided to wait for Maribe at Road House Grill along Dennis Pritt Road and met his friend Jennings Orlando who wanted some financial assistance.

While at the club, they were joined by Maribe's friends and after having drinks, they went with Jennings to look for fuel.

"At 11 pm, I called Maribe but she informed me they had gone to Club Forty-Forty in Westlands with the entourage of the Nairobi governor. I followed her to the club and stayed until 4 am when we went home together," said Jowie.

The following day, on September 20 2018, he stated that he drove Maribe to her workplace at Royal Media Services, went back to the house and rested until the evening when he went to pick her up.

When Maribe left the station, Jowie stated that they went to Q-Lounge until midnight. He said they later went home after arguing because his fiancee did not want to go home.

Jowie said it was while they were at home that their argument escalated. This was after he discovered Maribe's conversation with another man.

"I got tired of her frequent flirting with other men. I had made up my mind to leave her house and started packing and throwing my clothes out of the house. It was in the midst of that argument that the gun I had went off and hit me on my chest," said Jowie.

Journalist Jacqueline Maribe. She is facing a murder charge alongside her former fiancee Joseph Irungu. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

According to Jowie, the gun belonged to their neighbour, Brian Kasaine, who had apparently left it to him after also disagreeing with his wife.

He stated that since Kasaine had no licence to own the gun, he advised Jowie and Maribe to lie that they were attacked and shot by robbers, to protect him from possible prosecution for having an unlicensed firearm.

Jowie denied knowing Ms Kimani or visiting her apartment at Lamuria Gardens in Kilimani on the night she was killed. He said he only came to learn of her death when he was arrested on September 25, 2018.

"I only saw on television that I was the main suspect after my arrest. Even the witnesses who claimed to have seen me at her house were strangers to me and I only saw them when they came to testify in court," said Jowie.

He said the clothes recovered by police for being the ones he wore on the night he allegedly committed the offence did not belong to him and that blood stains in one of the shorts were not his.

On being cross-examined by the prosecution, Jowie also denied stealing an identity card at their residence in Langata and using it to access Ms Kimani's residence in Kilimani.

"I am sure all the prosecution witnesses lied. They conspired against me because none of their evidence is true. I never met Monica and never communicated with her as the only person I knew was her brother," said Jowie.

Jowie was put on his defence, alongside Maribe, over the murder of Ms Kimani on the night of September 19, 2018, at her Lamuria Gardens Apartment in Kilimani Area.