Monica Kimani’s father Bishop Ngarama claims that forgiveness will end the trauma his family has experienced since his first child and only daughter were killed in their apartment at Lamuria Gardens in the Kilimani neighborhood of Nairobi in an exclusive interview with The Weekly Review in Seattle, Washington, USA.
His face bears the marks of unmistakable grief at losing a child. However, Bishop Paul Ngarama and his family are getting close to closure following the High Court’s verdict on February 9 regarding the culprit.
Even though he claims to have forgiven those responsible for Monica Kimani’s death on September 19, he is still fighting back tears over the tragic loss of a child he loved.
“The court has made its ruling, which is not different from what my family and I expected. But even as I forgive him (Joseph Irungu), I am still asking him why he did it,” Bishop Ngarama, Monica’s father, said this week in Washington State, United States.
“For my healing to go full circle, I must forgive him, which I have done. But, in all humility, I am asking him why he killed my daughter. What was the motive? Why? Why? Why? Is he ready to face me and ask for forgiveness?,” Bishop Ngarama told this reporter in his tree-clustered residence in Federal Way, one of the several satellite cities that form the metropolis of Seattle in Washington State.
“This will put an end to the trauma that my family and I have gone through from 2018 when my first child and only daughter was slaughtered like a chicken,” said Bishop Ngarama.
“God demands of us to forgive unconditionally. But human nature and courtesy also behoves us to ask for forgiveness when we err. I don’t know if he can ask for forgiveness,” Bishop Ngarama noted.
The American branch of the church has been registered, but is yet to start operating. Pain is palpable as he sips coffee on the portico of this heavily-forested neighbourhood.
When the High Court found Joseph Irungu, also known as Jowie, guilty of murdering Monica on February 9, the family of the slain woman, whose barbaric and senseless murder in her apartment in Lamuria Gardens in Kilimani, Nairobi, on the night of September 19, 2018, shocked Kenyans, breathed a sigh of relief.
Irungu’s ex-partner, a popular television presenter Jacque Maribe, who was the second accused, was acquitted. Justice Grace Nzioka found Irungu guilty of the murder, telling the court that he did not “give her even one minute to survive” and intended “instant death”.
The sentencing is set for March 8.
Eventually, a smile, however furtive, flickered on the face of Bishop Ngarama after he stoically followed the proceedings and lived with pain and trauma of burying his only daughter.
“The court’s verdict against the first accused is fair, in our view. Every evidence (of the murder) indicated that the first accused did it (murdered Monica). Even my family thought so, but matters of law are complicated and sensitive and we had to just wait for the court to scrupulously do its work and pronounce itself,” Bishop Ngarama said.
He, however, seemed to have reservations about the acquittal of Maribe, but fell short of saying so directly, again taking cognisance of the esoteric nature of matters of law.
“The court said the prosecution did not present enough evidence to connect her (Maribe) with the murder. I do not want to comment further, but only wait for the appeal against her acquittal,” said Bishop Ngarama.
