Gikomba trader jailed for conning colleague
A businesswoman who conned a Gikomba trader of second-hand shoes worth Sh62,400 has been slapped with a four-month jail term.
Jennifer Wanjiru Kariuki was handed the penalty by Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwany of Makadara Law Courts after she pleaded guilty to charges of obtaining goods by false pretenses contrary to section 313 of the penal code.
She was jailed without an option of a fine.
The convict admitted she fraudulently obtained eight bales of second-hand shoes from Ms. Teresia Wanjiru Mugo by pretending she was in a position to pay for them on March 10, 2022, knowing the same to be untrue.
The court heard that Ms. Kariuki walked into Ms Mugo’s store at around 6am and ordered eight bales of shoes each worth Sh7, 800.
Having been supplied with the bales, she left Ms. Mugo’s store promising to pay later in the day via mobile money.
However, she never paid for the shoes and never went back to the complainant to explain what happened leading to failure to pay.
Ms. Mugo made several calls to the convict and she gave promises to pay but did not keep her word.
In the days that followed, Ms. Kariuki started ignoring Ms. Mugo’s calls and completely ended communication between them.
In October, Ms. Mugo received information that Ms. Kariuki had relocated to Githurai market where she was selling cereals.
She made a report at the Shauri Moyo police station and police officers accompanied her to Githurai market where they arrested Ms. Kariuki November 5 and escorted her to the station.
In mitigation, the convict said she failed to pay owing to hard economic times and pleaded for more time to pay the complainant.
She said she was not selling cereals but agreed she had relocated from Gikomba.
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