A financial expert stunned a Nairobi court by detailing how she lost more than Sh7.6 million to an inmate at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.
Ms Purity Karambu claims Hesbon Onyango Nyamweya, an inmate serving a jail term for defilement, and his mother Pamela Akinyi Wara swindled her of Sh7,656,500 over a period of five months, in a fraudulent commercial property deal.
On Monday, while testifying against Nyamweya and Wara, Ms Karambu tearfully recounted how she lost millions of shillings to the two in 2020.
Ms Karambu told Milimani Chief Magistrate Susan Shitubi that she fell victim to the two accused persons in her quest to invest in real estate.
"I wanted to do an investment which could give me income, probably a commercial building, which I could rent with good returns,” Ms Karambu said.
In her search for property to buy, Ms Karambu said she landed on a website known as Badoo Online, where she identified a house, got a number and contacted the seller, who identified himself as James.
Ms Karambu said she revealed her plans to the so-called James who offered to help her purchase the house. That marked the beginning of their constant communication.
At the time, Ms Karambu told the court, she had no idea that the person she was dealing with was a rapist who was serving time at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.
Ms Karambu further told the court that the said James introduced himself as a medical doctor with dual citizenship (Kenyan and Tanzanian), working in South Africa.
The ‘doctor’, she said, claimed that he and his colleagues were on a medical camp to battle Covid-19 pandemic in Tarakea.
As they continued communicating, the said James, whose real identity she came later discovered was Hesbon Onyango Nyamweya, started making financial requests.
"At first he told me he was at the Kenyan-Tanzanian border and he had not processed his paperwork. For that reason he could not access his bank account," Ms Karambu told the court.
Although they were yet to meet, the said James requested Sh38,000 from her to process the said paperwork with a promise to refund the money.
The said 'doctor' would later inform Ms Karambu that the process had taken longer than expected. He requested for Sh5,000 for food and accommodation, which Ms Karambu promptly wired.
At some point, the accused informed Ms Karambu that he had fallen sick and taken to Rayaan Hospital in Kajiado. He requested for her assistance in paying the prescribed medical tests, including Covid-19.
"I sent Sh48,000 to cover the medical tests. Later, a man who introduced himself as Dr Emmanuel called and informed me that James had contracted Covid-19. He said James needed to be transferred to a sister hospital by the name Sanitas, also in Tanzania," she said.
Ms Karambu told the court that she sent the first tranche as payment for the property on June 29, 2020. By August 2020, she had sent the online ‘real estate agent’ a total of Sh7,656,500.
Eventually, Ms Karambu received a call from the said Dr Emmanuel informing her that James had passed on at the Tanzanian hospital.
“From that point, the numbers that James and Dr Emmanuel used to call me with went off. It is then I realized I was involved in a con game,”Ms Karambu told the court.
She reported the matter at Thika Police Station and was referred to the Serious Crimes Unit at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters.
The court heard that DCI detectives, with the assistance of mobile phone service providers, eventually arrested Hesbon Onyango Nyamweya and his mother.
The two are now jointly charged with conspiracy to steal. They also facing money laundering charges.
The two have denied that on diverse dates between May and September 2020, with others who were not present in court, they stole Sh7,656,500 from Ms Karambu.
The accused persons have also been charged with unlawfully disposing monies stolen from Ms Karambu and engaging in a transaction to conceal proceeds of crime.
Separately, Wara has been charged with handling stolen property contrary to Sections 268(1) as read together with Sections 275 and 322(1)(2) of the Penal Code.
During the said period, Wara is alleged to have dishonestly undertaken the retention of Sh7,656,500, while knowing the money had been stolen from Ms Karambu.
Nyamweya is serving time at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison as the hearing of the current case continues while his mother, Wara, is being held at Langata Women's Prison awaiting determination of the case. The hearing continues.
