A man has been charged with stealing and impersonation of a police officer for allegedly defrauding a former primary school classmate of Sh297,000.
The prosecution told the court that Samuel Mwaniki Murugi, who is facing five counts of stealing, committed the offense on December 5, 2020, within Nairobi's Central Business District.
The affair began on December 2, 2020, when Murigi noticed a former primary school classmate, Pauline Wanjiru Gitau, while they were onboard a matatu travelling from Kariobangi area.
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According to the court documents, the duo got reacquainted from their time at Kawanjeru Primary School and exchanged contacts before Wanjiru alighted from the matatu.
In their ensuing communications, Murigi promised to help Wanjiru get a job at the Central Police Station, Nairobi where he claimed he worked as a police officer.
Three days after they bumped into each other, the court was told that the duo met outside the National Archives for Wanjiiru's 'interview' for the job at Central Police Station.
At the National Archives, Murigi is said to have asked for Wanjiru's Identification Card and KRA pin to help her apply for a certificate of good conduct.
Wanjiru, eager to land a job, told Murigi that the documents he needed were on her phone and handed him the gadget to download them at a nearby cyber cafe.
Together, they marched to the cyber cafe on Tom Mboya Street but the man vanished, leaving her stranded at the internet shop.
Panicked and scared, Wanjiru requested for the cyber cafe attendant's phone to call her mobile line but the gadget had already been switched off.
Two days later, court documents said, Wanjiru renewed her mobile line only to discover that the money in her M-Pesa's M-Shwari account had been stolen.
But when Murigi was arraigned on Friday, March 5, before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku, he denied all the charge and was freed on Sh300,000 bond or Sh200,000 bond.
