ELDORET, KENYA: A man who colluded with an MPesa agent to steal from a client in Likuyani, Kakamega County has been sentenced to six months in prison.
Constant Wekesa who was convicted on his own plea of guilt had been charged with stealing Sh30, 400 from Simon Lumbasi in Mbururu Market on June 7, 2017.
Police investigations indicated that the convict was arrested after the complainant realized that the money that went missing from his MPesa account had been sent to the accused who is his neighbor.
Mr Lumbasi told the court that he had gone to deposit Sh30, 400 to his mobile phone banking account in an MPesa outlet in Mbururu Market on the material day but immediately after transacting, the attendant told him that his line had a problem.
According to the prosecution, the complainant said the attendant at the MPesa outlet whom he only knew as Violet took the money in order to deposit and send to another person but the money neither reflected in his account nor the preferred recipient.
"The attendant then took the complainant's phone to probe the concern only to tell him the mobile SIM card had a problem since it only had Sh1000 showing that the deposited amount had been sent.
Dissatisfied with the explanation, the complainant went to Safaricom customer care and drew a statement of the transaction," read the prosecutor.
The MPesa statement presented in court indicated the accused person had received the money.
"I received Sh30, 000 from Simon Lumbasi on that date and wondered why he could have sent me money but immediately Violet called and told me it was deal that would benefit us. She convinced me the complainant was loaded after selling a piece of land and would not follow up on the lost money," said Wekesa after the details of the charge were read.
He pleaded for leniency from the court explaining that the MPesa agent that lured him into the trap and shared the money with was released at the police station and that he is financially unstable.
Harrison Barasa Eldoret Senior Principal Magistrate told him the fact that he did not report the attendant and remained silent after receiving the money made him liable for the offense.
"Your silence made you part of the deal and now you will have to pay expensively for this. You are ordered to pay Sh30, 000 and a similar amount fine or face six months imprisonment," said Barasa.
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