A 32-year-old woman is facing fraud charges after she was “lured” into a deal by a “lover” and they allegedly conned a farmer of Sh44,300.
Ruth Wanjiku Kangethe was charged with obtaining money by false pretences from Mary Wachuka Kinyua on May 19 this year while pretending she was in a position to process a title deed for her land.
Ms Kangethe is also facing a charge of personating a public officer. She is accused of falsely presenting herself as a person employed by the Public Service Commission as a land registry employee and claiming that she was in a position to process a title deed for a parcel of land at the Solio Settlement Scheme on May 19.
According to documents, Ms Kangethe met a female friend at a social joint in Nairobi who told her about the man, suggesting her was an influential politician, and suggested they should date. Her friend gave her the man’s contact.
Ms Kangethe then reached out to the man and they started a relationship, constantly calling to check on each other as their “love blossomed”. However, they did not meet physically.
One day, the man told her to expect a call from a woman who wanted to hasten the process of getting a title deed for her land. She was instructed to ask the woman for Sh43,300 for the process and she obliged.
The woman later called Ms Kangethe and she asked her for the cash as she had been instructed by her ‘lover’. The woman, Ms Kinyua, sent her the money. Ms Kangethe was then directed by her ‘lover’ to keep Sh5,000 and send him the rest of the money, and she did as instructed.
Later on, Ms Kangethe received another call from Ms Kinyua who demanded a refund of her money after she learnt that she had been defrauded.
But Ms Kangethe did not have the money and the matter was reported to the police. Ms Kangethe was traced and arrested. The said lover has not been arrested.
Ms Kangethe denied the charges before Principal Magistrate Monica Kivuti of the Makadara Law Courts and sought for lenient bail and bond terms.
She told the court that she is a single mother of three children who solely depend on her.
The court granted her release on a cash bail of Sh30,000.
The case will be mentioned on December 15 while the hearing is scheduled to begin on July 8 next year.
