Inside Maribe’s police statement

Citizen TV anchor Jacque Maribe has admitted to police that her fiancé Joseph Irungu shot himself in her house in an incident investigators believe was a suicide attempt.

According to Ms Maribe, Jowie, as her fiancé is known, shot himself in his chest following a “serious” disagreement between them in her house in Lang’ata on the night of September 20.

Jowie later claimed in a police statement that he had been shot by three thugs after dropping off Ms Maribe at her house. Police have since questioned the narrative.

Ms Maribe and Jowie are being detained in separate police stations in Nairobi over the gruesome murder of Monica Nyawira Kimani, whose body was found at her Kilimani apartment.

Jowie is the prime suspect in the murder.

The fresh details of the quarrel that led to Jowie shooting himself is contained in an affidavit sworn by the lead investigator. “That according to the statement from the Respondent ( Jacqueline Wanjiru Maribe), the said Joseph Irungu alias Jowie on the night of 20/21st September 2018 at around 1am attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself on [sic] the left chest following serious disagreement between the two,” the investigator stated in his affidavit.

Police are yet to provide a link between Jowie’s stated suicide attempt and Ms Kimani’s murder.

They have also not expounded on the reason of the quarrel between Ms Maribe and her fiance.

On Monday, Ms Maribe and a third suspect Brian Kassaine were arraigned in Kiambu and the court ordered their detention for a further 10 days to allow for investigations.

The police have also announced they will extract DNA samples from Ms Maribe, information that will help in investigations.