Brian Kassaine is a name that came up a lot during the investigations into the murder of Monica Kimani, a woman who was killed in her apartment in Kilimani Estate, Nairobi County.
In an account of a series of events that took place after the murder, for which Joseph Irungu alias Jowie, was found guilty , Brian Lesalon Kasaine tells how a name he shared with one of the suspects in the brutal murder made his life a mystery for weeks.
At the time, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) were under immense pressure to ensure they solved the murder of Monica Kimani, who died just a day after landing in the country from South Sudan, where she was based and doing business with her family.
She had planned to spend the night at her apartment in Lamuria Gardens and fly to Dubai the following day. This never happened as she was found dead in the apartment with her throat slit.
On the day the body was discovered, Mr Kasaine had just woken up at his rented house on Lumumba Drive in Roysambu and was planning to attend a friend's graduation ceremony at the United States International University.
After graduation, he joined the friend's family at a party in Kiambu Town and while they were enjoying soft drinks and delicious food, he received a phone call.
"The caller was a friend in Mombasa. It had been a while since we had spoken, so I received the call with the happy tone of someone ready to start a fun catch-up conversation. She didn't reciprocate the eagerness in my greeting. Her tone was urgent and troubled, on a pendulum swinging between anxiety and relief," Mr Kasaine said in his story.
The friend, who lives in Mombasa, then told him she was glad he was safe and that it was time for him to check the news to see why she was shocked.
The writer went online and found that someone identified as Brian Kassaine had been arrested after being linked to Kimani's murder.
"I was sure of one thing. It wasn't me. I was in my house, not in a police cell. I called my friend back and said, "Hey, it's just a matter of having similar names. I laughed," he said.
That night, Mr Kasaine said he was having trouble sleeping and that his phone might ring later about the same thing.
Mr Brian Kassaine in the dock at Kiambu Law Courts on October 11, 2018.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
He said he had been called by his uncle, another friend and also a lecturer who taught him at the Cooperative University.
In addition, Mr Kassaine, who was later made a state witness, had accompanied Ms Jacque Maribe, Irungu's girlfriend at the time, to a police station where they reported that armed robbers had shot Irungu.
On the day he was arraigned, Mr Kassaine covered his face to prevent cameras from capturing his face. This prompted Kenyans to Google his name, which led them to that of Mr Kassaine, an aspiring writer.
Joseph Irungu alias Jowie at the Milimani Law Court on February 9, 2024, where he was convicted of murdering businesswoman Monica Kimani (inset) in 2018.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
"When the search results came up, it was me they found. An aspiring writer. That's when cyberbullying started," he said.
On Twitter, now known as X, bullies fired shots at him, and the first person to expose him to the public was an influencer.
The influencer tagged him in a post with the caption "Writers by day, murderers by night".
"This bothered me and prompted me to write to him in his inbox. I explained that we shared a name and that I wasn't the Brian Kassaine in question. He wrote an apology and deleted the tweet," he said.
His name later appeared on a number of news blogs and they used his pictures, not realising they had got it all wrong.
The writer said that even walking around town had become a struggle as people looked at him with fixed and suspicious eyes.
He gave an example of when he went to a hotel for lunch and one of the waiters started pointing at him. He was with a friend and it made him feel very uncomfortable.
On Facebook, a user took a nice photo of him giving a speech at the Co-operative University of Kenya during the inauguration of the first vice chancellor and posted it.
The user then captioned it with the words: "This creative writer, a recent graduate of the Cooperative University in Karen, lent Jowie his gun to commit suicide". Was his gun licensed? Is he a robber/murderer masquerading as a writer? What drives these kids to a life of crime?"
The writer responded by saying that he was not the one linked to the murder, and the Facebook user dared him to sue him.
The user even added that he was related to a high-ranking government official who helped him get the gun.
He even lost a lucrative contract in Narok town where he was supposed to speak and the event was cancelled just because the management saw his name.
"I went into depression. The calls kept coming and at one point I turned off my phone. A hotel in Narok where I was to speak during an event cancelled our hall booking when they saw my name on the program," he said.
His mood then changed and that marked the end of his relationship with his then-girlfriend, who dumped him.
With no one to help him deal with the situation at hand, which was marred by frequent attacks on social media, he turned to the bottle.
"When more attacks came on social media, I turned to the bottle. Shots of whiskey to distort reality, if only for a moment. Or shots of vodka to sleep through the night," he said.
Realising that things were getting out of hand, he decided to report the matter to the Central Police Station in Nairobi. He was given OB number 62/3/10/2018.
Last week, High Court Judge Grace Nzioka read the verdict during a court session attended by both suspects, Ms Maribe and Irungu.
Irungu was found guilty of the murder of Kimani and will be sentenced on March 8, 2024, while Ms Maribe was found not guilty and acquitted.
The judge said the evidence presented by the prosecution did not place Ms Maribe at the scene of the crime and there was no evidence that she knew the victim.
Mr Kasaine now says he has overcome the challenges and is never afraid or worried when he says he is Mr Brian Kasaine, "and someone says, 'Wait a minute, that sounds familiar.
"I know, I know," I smile and say.
However, he has decided to drop his English name Brian and now uses the name Lesalon Kasaine.
