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How Kamiti prisoner and his mother conned woman Sh7million in fake house purchase deal
Karambu told the court that she visited Badoo, an online site dealing in property where she got a number and contacted a person, who only identified himself as "James"
A financial executive narrated to a Nairobi court how she was conned Ksh7.6million by a prisoner held at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison who then transferred it to his mother.
Testifying before the Milimani Chief Magistrate Susan Shitubi, Purity Karambu Laird said she was interested in investing in real estate property that would earn her income and in search of the same online, she fell into the hands of fraudsters who ended up obtaining Ksh 7,656,500 in pretences.
“I wanted to do an investment which could give me an income probably a commercial building which I could rent,” she said.
Karambu told the court that she visited Badoo, an online site dealing in property where she got a number and contacted a person, who only identified himself as “James”.
She told him her intentions was to purchase a property for income generating and the person said he would help her resulting in constant communication between them oblivious of the fact that he was a convict at Kamiti.
According to Karambu, “James” introduced himself as a Kenyan-Tanzanian medical doctor working in South Africa, but was at the time at Tarakea on a medical camp with colleagues due to the outbreak of Covid-19 Pandemic.
As the communication continued, “James”, whom she came to learn was known as Hesbon Nyamweya, started sweet-talking her.
“In the first instance he told me he was at the Kenyan Tanzanian boarder and he had not processed his paperwork and due to that reason he could not access his bank account for transactions,” Karambu told the court.
Though they had never met before, he demanded her Ksh 38,000 to process the said paperwork the money which could be refunded later.
The said ‘doctor’ further called and informed her’ that the process had taken long and it could be finished the following day. He told her to give Ksh 5,000 for food and accommodation what Karambu did.
In his bid to demand more money, James informed her that he had fallen sick and taken to Rayaan Hospital in Kajiado and requested her to assist him in paying for prescribed tests, including that of COVID-19.
“I sent Ksh 48,000 for that purpose where I was later called by a guy who introduced himself as Dr Emmanuel informing me that James had contracted COVID-19 virus and he needed a transfer to Sister’s Hospital called Sanitas in Tanzania,” she said.
Karambu said the first money she sent on June 29, 2020, and the trend continued until the end of August by which time she had sent him a total of Ksh 7,656,500 to this unknown individual.
Karambu was then called by the said Dr Emmanuel, who introduced himself as Hesbon. He informed her that “James” had died before the telephone numbers he used to call her with were switched off. It is then that she realised she had been conned.
“I started to investigate by myself and realised that I was conned. I reported the matter at Thika police station where I was referred to DCI headquarters, Kiambu Road for further investigations,” she indicated.
The investigations led to the re-arresting of Nyamweya and his mother Pamela Akinyi Wara.
They were jointly charged in court with conspiracy to steal.
According to the charge sheet, the two diverse dates between May and September 2020 with others who were not before court stole Ksh7,656,500 from Karambu.
They were also charged with money laundering after they unlawfully disposed they money stolen from Karambu, engaged in a transaction to conceal the money whilst knowing it was proceeds of crime.
Nyamweya further was charged with other counts of cheating.
Separately, Wara was charged with stealing and handling of stolen properties with the prosecution stating that dishonestly undertook the retention of the money knowingly or having reason that the money was acquired through theft.
Nyamweya is serving his defilement sentence in Kamiti Maximum prison as the hearing of the current matter continues while his mother in remand at Langata Women’s Prison awaiting the determination of the case.
