Mason accused of conning couple of money meant for grave beautification
A mason who disappeared after he was paid to repair two graves at the Lang’ata cemetery has pleaded guilty to charges of obtaining money by false pretences.
Ondanga Mbuka was charged with defrauding a couple of Sh235,000 who intended to beautify their parents’ graves.
He admitted to the charges that he defrauded Grace Wanjiku and her husband when he was charged before senior principal magistrate Esther Bhoke and is awaiting sentencing.
Mbuka is accused of committing the offence on March 11, 2022.
The court heard that before Mbuka disappeared with the cash, he promised the couple that he was in a position to repair Wanjiku’s parents’ graves and install granite on them.
The prosecution told the court that the couple had visited the cemetery to inspect the graves for renovation.
They contacted Mbuka whose phone number they had gotten from a friend who referred them to him.
He was given a down-payment of Sh150,000 sent to him through Mpesa.
Mbuka later received the remaining amount on diverse dates via Mpesa.
After some time, the couple went back to the cemetery to check on the progress of the work only to find nothing was going on.
The court heard that the couple unsuccessfully tried to reach Mbuka through his mobile phone as he could not pick their calls.
The couple then reported the matter to Lang’ata police station leading to his arrest.
He said that when they sent him the money, some thugs accosted him on the way and robbed him of the cash.
Mbuka said that he tried to do the work even before full payments were made by the couple but he was arrested before he completed the work.
He pleaded guilty to the charges before senior principal magistrate Esther Boke.
Bhoke directed that a pre-sentencing report of Mbuka be tabled before she sentenced him.