This archive report was first published on 30 September 2021.
On September 19, 2018, Monica Kimani sent a text message to Antony Kariuki, a businessman, that read; “come help me sleep”. The message was sent at 11 pm, just hours after she was brutally murdered.
Kariuki testified in the Monica Kimani murder trial that he found the message weird as they did not have an intimate relationship. He explained that he had met Monica in Nyeri at a dowry ceremony for his friend Willis on August 25, 2018.
They exchanged contacts and kept in touch until her return back to Kenya from South Sudan. They would meet again weeks later after Monica gave him directions to her residence at Lamuria Gardens along Kitale lane off Dennis Pritt road.
They wanted to discuss business opportunities in South Sudan as Monica had told him that she ran a family business there. Kariuki testified that he used his car to visit Monica at her residence on September 19, 2018, at around 9.20 pm.
He said Monica came down to where he had parked, hugged him, and told him she was in a hurry with two visitors in her house, a Lebanese and a security guard from State House. Kariuki left and headed straight to his place in Kileleshwa, some 20 minutes drive from Monica’s place.
At around 11 pm, Monica sent him a message, “come and help me sleep”, to which he responded, “I will come tomorrow”. The following day, September 20, 2018, he tried calling or texting her three to four times without any success as the mobile numbers were not going through and she was not responding to text messages.
