• Man promised a car valued at 1.2 million would be sold at Sh800,000
• Driven to a Lavington car yard and shown a vehicle to be bought.
All Zacharia Wachuli wanted was a new Toyota. What he did not know was that he would end up losing money to cons posing as car dealers.
Wachuli's problems began when he told his friend James Eboi about the plans to buy the car.
Soon after their discussion, Eboi received a call from a man called John Turkey who introduced himself as a trusted and reliable car dealer.
Turkey told Eboi that he had all types of cars at his Car Chief Limited yard in Lavington within Nairobi county. He promised to give Eboi the best car deal.
Testifying before Kibera senior resident magistrate Boaz Ombewa, Eboi said that when Turkey called, he said he had been given his number by a friend.
The vehicle Eboi wanted was being ferried to Nairobi as they spoke, he said.
“He told me that two vehicles were on the truck on their way to Nairobi and I only needed to pay Sh800,000. We agreed that the price to goes down to Sh700,000 ,” he told the court.
Eboi suspected the price was too low as the vehicle he had in mind would cost much more. He reasoned he was a lucky man.
“The vehicle could cost up to Sh1.2 million according to my observation. But they opted to sell it to me at a price of Sh700,000. I felt it was not normal,” he added.
He said that he inspected the vehicle the following day alongside Wachuli and Jack Owuor and John Turkey alias Patrick.
“We drove in my vehicle and parked at a shell petrol station. Later we drove to the car yard and they showed us the vehicle KCQ 495Z,” he said.
They inspected the car and asked for the documents which they were shown.
He said that at first, it was difficult to believe the accused persons, but when they proved to be genuine owners of the car, they trusted them.
“We believed him to be a true owner after doing our search which showed us that the documents were okay. He showed us an importation form and convinced us,” he added.
After inspecting the vehicle at the Lavington car yard, they went back with Patrick to Nairobi CBD to finalise the deal.
“We were told to go with Patrick back to town to withdraw the money and deposit it into a certain bank. I drove them back to the city where I withdrew the cash from my equity back ready to pay for the vehicle,” he told the court.
But before he could deposit the money, a man who claimed to be a lawyer for the accused showed up with a drafted agreement.
“We all signed and paid for the car. I then handed my vehicle to Wachuli who was to carry them back to the yard pick the vehicle,” he said.
Wachuli drove them to the Lavington car yard. After they arrived, the two men ran away and left him alone.
He proceeded to the car yard where the vehicle was and was informed that it had not been sold to anyone.
“Wachuli called me later and told me that we had been coned. After one week we managed to arrest the accused person,” he told the court.
Eboi's wife Elizabeth Ng’ang’a told the court that she was called from work at Moi University town office to withdraw cash at the Equity Bank, Kimathi street to pay for the car.
“We withdrew the money and I carried it in my handbag,” she told the court.
The broker lied to them that he was the lawyer of the accused person and they gave them cash, she told the court.
The charge sheet says John Turkey, Jack Owour and others not before the court are charged with obtaining Sh800,000 from Zacharia Wachuli by pretending to be in a position to buy them a vehicle REG KCQ 495Z on July 13 last year.
The case will proceed on November 22