A man accused of stealing mobile phones from revellers and using them to borrow money from digital financial lenders has been released on a Sh1 million bond by a Nyeri court after denying the charges.
Mr Nelson Kamau appeared before Chief Magistrate Wendy Kagendo on Friday and was charged with three counts of stealing and impersonation.
He was arrested by detectives after a three-month hunt.
The court heard that on April 18, 2019, Mr Kamau stole an iPhone valued at Sh80,000 from Mr Fredrick Omondi at Tenth Street bar in Nyeri town.
BORROWED MONEY
According to the charge sheet, Mr Kamau withdrew Sh43,300 from Mr Omondi’s M-Pesa account, borrowed a loan of Sh90,000 from Stima Sacco and another loan of Sh11,000 from Timiza mobile application.
The court heard that he further took a Fuliza loan of Sh11,500 using Mr Omondi’s mobile phone.
In the second count, he is charged that on February 23 he stole a Nokia phone valued at Sh28,000 from Mr Bernard Wanjohi at the same bar.
TOOK LOANS
Mr Kamau, the court heard, withdrew Sh8,000 from Mr Wanjohi’s M-Pesa account and took two loans of Sh2,000 and Sh3,500 from M-Shwari and Fuliza accounts, respectively.
He also faced a third count of impersonation.
The court heard that he had a national identity card registered in the name of John Gachuki Ndirangu, which was not his name.
The pre-trial will be held on June 18, 2019.
Mr Kamau complained that his motor vehicle, a car and mobile phones are being held at Nyeri Police Station and urged the court to order for their release.
The court told him to raise the matter during pre-trial as the vehicle and the phones could be part of the prosecution’s exhibits.