Brenda Onyino and Duncan Omondi had no doubt that their house, vehicles and household goods were safe under the watch of Chrispinus Wesonga when they left for the US in December 2018.
Little did they know that Wesonga, a guard who had been with them for two and half years, would betray their trust and allow thieves to enter their compound and take away property worth Sh3.8 million.
Last Friday, Makadara senior principal magistrate Merissa Opondo sent the former guard to jail for four years for colluding with others not in court to steal the Omondis' property.
The court had been told that Brenda and her children left the family's Utawala home on December 7, 2018, for a holiday in the United States of America.
Her husband joined them on December 18. Wesonga was left guarding the home.
While in the US, they unsuccessfully called Wesonga on several occasions. Their calls never went through.
The family returned to Kenya on January, 1, 2019. They found the gate locked and the watchman was nowhere to let them in.
The Omondis eventually managed to enter the compound only to be greeted by the absence of their Toyota Rav 4 and Toyota Premio, and broken doors.
Their 65 inch Sony TV, Sony home theatre, two laptops, a Macbook, clothes and shoes were missing. The missing items were worth Sh3,850,000.
Brenda called Corporate, the security firm from where they had outsourced the watchman for a monthly fee of Sh12,000.
The manager sent supervisor David Wanjala to the scene. The supervisor said the last time he saw Wesonga was on December 28 and he did not know his whereabouts.
Wesonga could not be traced. His employment documents had been removed from the security firm's office.
Omondi reported the theft to Embakasi Police Station and Wanjala was arrested. After all, he is the one who had recruited Wesonga.
A year later, the watchman was traced to Kawangware and arrested. The prosecution turned Wanjala into a state witness.
During the trial at the Makadara law courts, Brenda recalled that Wesonga had, at the police station, confessed to her that he was lured by some people to let them take away the cars, promising to pay him Sh290,000.
They only gave him Sh30,000 after which "I took my four days' off".
But he did not go back to work, instead opting to find alternative employment.
Magistrate Opondo found that Wesonga actively participated in the theft of and abated in the vandalisation of the complainants' properties.
“The prosecution proved its case beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offence of stealing. This court finds the accused guilty and convicts him to serve four years imprisonment,” she ruled.
None of the stolen items was recovered.
