A bra is meant to buoy up a woman’s confidence.
But it has brought humble housemaid Eveline Kemutu, 27, loads of trouble.
Kemutu probably never heard of Christine Hardt, the German woman who first patented the bra in 1899. The tiny band of cloth, and sometimes sponge, is the cause of her heartache.
Only six months after landing a job in Kariobangi South, Nairobi, her contract has not only been terminated, she is facing a grueling court case.
One morning in early January, her employer, Lydia Atieno, was getting late for work. But she could not find her bra . The boss asked Kemutu if she had seen the subject of her agony.
Suspicious, Atieno combed through Kemutu’s bag and demanded she bares her bossom.
The maid was wearing Atieno’s bra. And that was not all, Atieno found her Sh25,000 cooking pans hidden under Kemutu’s bed. More than she had bargained for literally.
Not long after, Kemutu ended up behind bars.
Yesterday, a distressed Kemutu told a Makadara court that it was all a case of mistaken identity. She bought the bras, the same make and colour like Atieno’s, after her boyfriend was unimpressed with her earlier choice, she said.
She told Makadara chief magistrate Eunice Opondo: “Your honour, I bought these bras with my money. I did not steal. It is just that they look the same as my employer’s.”
Kemutu’s search for a touch of class hoping to fire up her love life seem to have ended in distress.
She was released on a cash bail of Sh50,000.
The case will be heard on April 8.