• She told court that house girl invaded her bedroom where she made away with $3,000.
• The housegirl denied the charges and said she was innocent although police recovered some cash from her.
Image: CLAUSE MASIKA
A househelp and her boyfriend in Kawangware have been charged with stealing $3,000 cash from her employer.
She is also accused of buying him a TV.
Kashmiraben Kumar told Kibera senior resident magistrate Barbara Ojoo on Friday last week that Sarah Asibo also sent cash to her parents through M-Pesa so they could buy iron sheets.
Both Sarah and her boyfriend Paul Ojonga were charged with theft. He said he had been badly beaten on his buttocks by police and forced to sign false sttements..
Kumar said that she employed Sarah, one of the accused persons, early this year. She said that she stole $3,000 that she kept in her bedroom.
“Because she was not staying in my compound, she was to come early and leave early,” she told the court.
She said that on July 25, Sarah went to her house but left early.
“I left home very early and went to work as usual but at 9am I received a call from my daughter saying that Sarah didn't report to work or pick calls. I sensed danger and told my daughter to see if the money in the bedroom was still there," Kumar told the court.
The money was gone. Sarah didn't pick calls.
"She picked my calls later in the afternoon and said her daughter was sick and she had taken her to the hospital," she said.
The next day Sarah reported to work and denied she took the cash.
"I tried to interrogate her politely and later she agreed she took the money but gave it to her boyfriend who exchanged the dollars for Kenyan shillings ."
Kumar reported the theft to a Nairobi West police station. Two police officers accompanied Sarah to her boyfriend's house in Kawangware and recovered $200.
Police said Sarah had purchased an LG TV set, a GoTV box, sent Sh35,000 to her mother to buy iron sheets, Sh115,000 to her father through M-Pesa. She also gave her boyfriend Sh10,000 cash, they said.
Police were able to reverse Sh112, 000 from Sarah's father and the bought items to court as exhibits.
Police arrested both Sarah and Ojonga.
Ojanga told the court he was beaten by police and forced to sign false documents.
One of the witnesses took a video recording as his buttocks were beaten and laughed, he said. She denied, however, that she took video, just audio.
“Your Honour, my head was inserted under the table and beatings meted out to me. They instructed me to tell them the truth concerning some money alleged to have been stolen. I was told not to move my body, but I had to move for me to speak clearly but the more I moved my body the more I was beaten by police,” Ojanga he told court.
He said that he suffered a lot in the hands of the police and the video taker.
“She is the one who was laughing and recording me as I was badly assaulted, the police allowed her to record,” he added.
Ojanga told the court he has three children at police at Industrial Area have made it difficult for his family to visit.
“They have missed me a lot, your Honour. Kindly assist me because one of my children will be an engineer, the other an accountant and the lastborn wants to be a DJ.
The magistrate told him to seek assistance from the prison management.
The next mention will be on October 27.
(Edited by V. Graham)