Recce Squad officer drove Jowie to Monica Kimani murder scene, hid evidence
Police officer Jennings Orlando, who was attached to the Recce Squad, is escorted to the Kiambu Law Courts on November 2, 2018, where he was released. Left is Joseph ‘Jowie’ Irungu in court in November 2019.
A junior police officer attached to the Recce Squad drove murder suspect Joseph Irungu alias Jowie to a scene in which a woman was murdered in 2018, a court heard Monday.
Detectives also recovered several pieces of evidence from the Recce Squad officer’s house soon after the murder was reported.
The items found in Jennings Orlando’s house included a long blue jeans trouser, a brown belt, a navy blue short-sleeved shirt, a cream-white pullover, a pair of brown open shoes, and black rubber shoes.
Mr Orlando was arrested soon after the murder of businesswoman Monica Kimani in Kilimani, Nairobi on the night of September 2018 but was released after arraignment.
Chief Inspector of Police Maxwel Otieno testified that Jowie also used a fake national identity card, was wearing a white kanzu and arrived at Monica’s residence in a taxi after leaving a car belonging to his fiancé, Jacqueline Maribe, with Orlando at a petrol station on Mbagathi Way.
“Mr Orlando told us that Mr Irungu returned past 11pm and he (Irungu) looked disturbed. He (Irungu) said he had a disagreement with the person he had gone to see,” testified the investigator.
Orlando and Jowie had earlier met at Roadhouse Club near Royal Park Estate where they stayed together up to 8pm, when Jowie said he wanted to visit a woman who had arrived from South Sudan. At the social club Jowie was wearing a brown short trouser, a t-shirt and a red cap, the court heard.
He was driven to the apartment by Orlando using Maribe’s car but at some point along the way he alighted, boarded a taxi and told Orlando to remain with the vehicle at a fuel station in the area.
“While on the way, he removed a firearm from the car’s dashboard and hoisted it. He also took a white kanzu and a brownish coat from a bag in the back seat of the car, then alighted and took a taxi,” said Mr Otieno.
Monica Kimani was found dead in a bathtub in her house with her throat slit on the night Orlando drove Jowie to her house. While the police officer has not been charged, Jowie and Maribe are facing murder charges, which they have denied and are out on bond.
The witness told the court that upon arrival at Lamuria Gardens Apartments, where Monica lived, Jowie identified himself to the security guards as Dominic Harun Bisera and produced a national identity card bearing the said name. Police later found out that the identity card belonged to a security guard attached to Lavington Security Company and working at the University of Nairobi. The hearing continues.
