Suspect who couldn’t raise Ksh488,000 hotel bi*l has worked as top IT manager for Kenya’s 3 big c*mpanies

By Sheila Mutua and Brian Okoth

She scored a strong A- (Minus) in 1997 KCSE. She posted a Second-Class Honors (Upper Division) after completing a 4-year undergraduate course in Computer Science at the in-demand University of Nairobi (UoN). She has worked for Kenya’s lucrative companies: Safaricom PLC, Airtel Kenya and the Kenya Airways. This is the story of 41-year-old Katie Antonina Wanjiku alias Stephen Kamotho.

On Friday, February 12, she was arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts for fraud: spending nearly two months in a city hotel, accruing a bill of Ksh488,150 in the process, and escaping from the hotel without offsetting even a shilling on her bill. She was a regular visitor to Marble Arc Hotel, the facility’s manager said. The administrator was, however, shocked that their patron had betrayed their trust, eventually.

An investigation into Antonina’s background paints a picture of a brilliant 41-year-old who is dealing with the reality of being disowned by her family for being transgender; a development that completely rerouted her rapidly rising life from the promenade of abundance to the path of scarcity.

Born on November 28, 1979 to Japheth Kimotho and the late Eunice Muthoni Kimotho, Antonina, a native of Lanet Location in Bahati Constituency, Nakuru County, spent her childhood as a normal boy. Actually, her parents and her seven siblings knew all the while that Antonina was male. He was given the name Stephen Kamotho at birth.

Antonina, a second born in a family of eight siblings, attended Kamoronya Primary School in Nakuru, and, thereafter, joined Koelel High School in Gilgil, where she sat the 1997 KCSE exam. Antonina scored an A-(Minus) in the national tests. She, thereafter, joined the University of Nairobi (UoN), where she graduated with a Second-Class Honors (Upper Division) after a completing a 4-year Bachelor of Computer Science course.

Between 2003 and 2011, Antonina worked as a programmer at three companies, namely Ascribe Kenya, Airtel Kenya and Safaricom PLC. Between 2011 and 2015, Antonina worked as the Programmes Manager for the Kenya Airways (KQ).

“It is during this time that she started suffering from major depressive disorder. The condition affected her ability to work and function normally, which resulted to her losing her job,” a background investigation ordered by Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku, and tabled on Monday, February 15, by Probation Officer Consolata Makori, reveals.

Antonina attributed her subsequent lack of employment to “discrimination due to her gender identity”.

“It has also been a challenge for her to live in any place of residence for long due to the above stated reasons,” said Makori in her report.

Antonina, a resident of Ndenderu, Kiambu County, is currently working as a freelance programmer, the court was told.

“She is single, and does not have any children,” Makori said in the probation report.

Antonina said she was ready to present before the court medical documents indicating she suffers from major depressive disorder.

“Through attending counselling sessions, she has been able to identify some of the causes to her mental illness. She states that the gender crisis and low self-esteem have been the major contributors to her mental illness. In addition, the lack of acceptance by her family members and society at large make matters worse,” said Makori in her probation report.

“She further explained that discrimination in the job market has also been a major contributor to the deterioration of her mental health.”

According to Makori, Antonina has never been convicted of any crime before.

Upon arraignment Friday, Chief Magistrate Mutuku freed Antonina on Ksh300,000 cash bail. The accused, however, pleaded with the court to lower the release fee, saying she could only raise a maximum bail of Ksh30,000.

“The accused person does not have any asset or savings that she can use to secure her release,” said Probation Officer Consolata Makori in her report Monday.

“She prays that the court reduces her cash bail to Ksh30,000. A friend, Beatrice Chepchirchir, is willing to be sworn in as her personal guarantor. She prays that the court considers her family circumstances and her security in determining her bond terms. She also prays for a chance to negotiate with the complainant,” added Makori in the report.

The Milimani Magistrate’s Court on Friday directed that Antonina, who is transgender, be detained at the Central Police Station, and not Industrial Area or Lang’ata Women’s remand prisons to avert a possible sexual harassment.

Katie Antonina Wanjiku, alias Stephen Kamotho, was arraigned for lodging in a hotel in Nairobi, but escaped without paying the accrued bills.

The court heard that Antonina booked herself into Marble Arch Hotel on December 16, 2020, and stayed in the facility up to February 3, 2021, accruing an accommodation bill of Ksh488,150 in that period.

When approached by the hotel manager to offset the bill, Antonina said she would pay at the end of her stay, which she had extended to end of March 2021.

Antonina further told the manager she would pay a total of Ksh1 million before checking out.

However, the suspect, is alleged to have escaped without footing the bill.

The administrator said he was shocked that Antonina, who was a regular client to their hotel, left the premises without paying even a single coin.

Antonina was, consequently, arrested and arraigned on Friday, February 12 before Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the offence, and was released on a Ksh300,000 cash bail. Antonina, however, pleaded for a lower cash bail, saying she could only raise Ksh30,000.

Due to her inability to raise the release fee, the magistrate was about to order that the accused be remanded at Lang’ata Women’s Prison, but the suspect asked the magistrate to lock her up in a neutral detention centre, saying she was a transgender with both male and female sex organs, and, therefore, she risked being sexually abused if detained at Lang’ata Women’s Prison or Industrial Area Remand Prison.

Chief Magistrate Mutuku, thereafter, directed that Wanjiku be held in lawful custody at the Central Police Station in Nairobi’s central business district.

The chief magistrate, however, asked the probation officer to ascertain the claim by Antonina that she had both male and female sex organs.

The report was presented to Chief Magistrate Mutuku on Monday, February 15 for subsequent action.