Samuel Mwaniki Murugi was arraigned before Nairobi Chief Magistrate on March 5 on charges of stealing and impersonating a police officer.
Mwaniki was accused of defrauding Wanjiru, a former classmate, of Ksh297,000 with the prosecution adding five other criminal charges including stealing.
The prosecution told the court that the accused committed the crime on December 5 2020 within the Nairobi Central Business District(CBD).
The two met on board a matatu commuting from Kariobangi area on December 2, 2020.
Court documents indicate that the two were classmates in Kawanjeru Primary School. They exchanged contacts before Wanjiru alighted the matatu.
Days after the encounter, they continued talking and it was in one of these conversations that Murigi promised to help Wanjiru get a job at the Central Police Station where he claimed to work as a police officer.
The court was told that the two met at the National Archives three days after they bumped into each other. Murigi is said to have asked for Wanjiru’s Identification Card (ID) and KRA pin to help her apply for a certificate of good conduct.
Unfortunately, Wanjiru did not have the hard copy documents. She had only softcopies that she had saved in her phone. She handed him her phone to go and download the documents at a nearby café.
On getting to the cyber café located on Tom Mboya Street, Murigi disappeared into the crowd leaving Wanjiru panicking and stranded.
Wanjiru asked the cyber café attendant to help her with her phone so she could reach out to Murugi but on calling, the phone was off.
Court documents further show that two days later, Wanjiru renewed her mobile number only to find that the Ksh297,000 in her M-Pesa’s M-Shwari account had been withdrawn.
While appearing in court on March 5, Murugi denied all the charges and was freed on a Ksh300,000 cash bail or Ksh200,000 bond.
