A man in Machakos was on Monday, September 2, arrested for allegedly stealing a nurse’s mobile cell phone at Machakos Level 5 hospital.
The suspect aged 17 had pretended to be a patient in need of treatment. After being attended by a nurse at the hospital’s Diabetes Centre, the suspect went ahead and stole the nurse’s phone.
Upon investigations, the suspect was found in possession of the nurse’s phone a few minutes later.
The said nurse had left his phone at his desk after attending to the suspect to engage with a fellow nurse. Shortly afterwards he realized his phone which led him to report the matter to the management.
Upon reviewing the CCTV footage, the security team quickly identified the suspect who had stolen the phone. It was established that he had been attended to by the nurse a few minutes earlier.
A thorough search of the suspect was launched in the hospital which led to his arrest at the outpatient area of the hospital as he was exiting the facility.
“I was operating in one room and left the room for another to consult a doctor. I had left my phone in the room where I was attending to patients. When I returned, I found my phone had been stolen,” the nurse explained.
“I reported to the hospital’s security who immediately took action by checking on the CCTV where they saw the man stealing the phone."
The suspect had hidden the phone inside his sweater pockets which he was forced to surrender.
Following the arrest, the suspect was handed to the police awaiting arraignment in Machakos Law courts on Tuesday, September 3.
Machakos County Chief Officer of Public Health Simon Simba Mwako noted they will not tolerate theft at the facility as they have stepped up security including making it mandatory for all staff to display their identification tags in a bid to combat the menace.
This incident comes barely a week after two suspects believed to be part of a phone theft syndicate were nabbed in possession of phones stolen from patients.
