Magistrate Benmark Ekhubi: Face of Africa model is not my lover

A former beauty queen in Mombasa has fallen out with her alleged former boyfriend, a serving magistrate in Mombasa, over debt.

Vivian Achieng – who has featured in Miss Malindi contest, Face of Africa auditions – claims Mombasa senior resident magistrate Benmark Ekhubi owes her Sh20,200.

But when contacted by The Nairobian, Benmark denied he owes Vivian any money. He said it is the model who owes him Sh35,000.

“I do not think the media is the best avenue to turn to if she thinks her rights have been infringed upon. She was never my girlfriend. In fact I took her home last year at my great expenses. Obviously she did not disclose that to you,” Benmark told The Nairobian on phone.

Benmark said he will sue Vivian for failure to repay him money, which he claims he spent on her.

“I also have rights as a human being, which I think must be protected. I will stand firm and protect my rights to my deathbed,” Ekhubi said. Later, an enraged Vivian blasted the magistrate.

“I confronted him via SMS on what he had spent on me as he claims, and says that I should pay him Sh35,000 because he made a 45-minutes drive from Mumias to my parents’ home to drop me, forgetting that I was the one who had even fuelled the car the previous day,” Vivian said.

She claims she first met BenMark in Mombasa on October 25 at the popular Lounge Bar at the City Mall through friends from Nairobi they share and they soon had their first date

Vivian, who is a frequent flyer, said she travelled abroad for few weeks after the date, but was always in contact with him.

According to the South Coast model, she later travelled to join him on December 20 in Kitale and later to Mumias when he was on leave. On December 22, BenMark dropped her at her parent’s home, which is a 45-minute drive from Mumias town, she said.

“He failed to join me for Christmas despite an assurance that he would do so since he was alone in Kitale after his parents had left for Nairobi,” Vivian added.

BenMark would later tell her that his eyes were aching and that he needed urgent treatment but did not have money since he had not been paid his salary and so asked Sh10,000 from her, Vivian told The Nairobian.

“I told him I will only give him the cash on condition that he refunds as soon as his salary comes through. He obliged,” she said. She claims she sent the money to him through M-Pesa.

But later the magistrate asked her for more money in January when she was preparing to travel abroad, the model said.

“By this time BenMark and I were head over heels for each other, or so I thought. My flight was scheduled at night and on that day, through a text message, BenMark asked me if I could help him with some cash because he had to buy a suit for an upcoming interview,” she said.

Not financially able

“I told him I was financially tight at the time, because I had a lot of expenses to attend to, but I still went out of my way and sent him Sh10,200 despite the fact that he had not refunded the money I had loaned him before.”  According to the woman, BenMark had told her his salary had not been paid for two months. She flew back to Kenya on February 12 and there were more requests from the judicial officer.

“This time he claimed his salary had delayed for the third month and wanted to pay rent for a new apartment he was planning to move into,” she alleged.

“But I decided not to loan him any money.   For starters, he had not taken me to see where he intended to move to and I was not sure if he was planning to move alone or with another woman. I did not give him my reasons but instead I just told him I was financially tight,” she said.

Vivian said BenMark ended the relationship abruptly on March 1 claiming that he needed to take a break from the relationship to “reflect ahead”.

“I told him (at the time) that asking for ‘time to reflect’ was a polite way of saying good bye,” she said.

According to the entrepreneur in Mombasa, BenMark agreed to pay back the money he owed her. Later, she said, the magistrate ‘unfriended’ her from his Facebook account.