Nairobi News

Several revelers were in 2022 charged with obtaining credit by false pretenses for incurring ridiculous bills after dining and imbibing expensive liquor in restaurants which they later failed to pay.

For instance, Nairobi Diaries actress Diana Clara Ojenge alias Mishi Dorah was in June charged at the Kibera law courts with obtaining Sh152,550 credit by false pretenses after dining and drinking expensive liquor at Golden Ice Bistro at Nextgen Mall on Mombasa Road in Nairobi on the night of May 26 and the morning of May 27.

The court heard that she ordered two chicken breasts valued at Sh3,000, one cocktail drink valued at Sh2,000, two bottles of 300ml coke valued at Sh500, a one litre bottle of mineral water valued at Sh400 and three bottles of Redbull energy drink valued at Sh1,650.

She also allegedly ordered six bottles of Belaire Luxe 750ml valued at Sh75,000 and seven Hennessy VS 750ml valued at Sh70,000 which she took with a group of friends she was partying with by falsely pretending that she would pay a fact she knew to be false.

She denied the charges before principal magistrate Monicah Maroro and pleaded for lenient bail and bond terms.

Ms Ojenge was granted a cash bail of Sh50,000 and an alternative bond of Sh100,000 with a surety of a like sum.

But she spent a couple of weeks in remand before friends raised cash and bailed her out.

In the same court, two women who reportedly incurred a Sh147,250 bill after drinking expensive beer at a bar in Kilimani where they also ate and failed to pay were in March charged with obtaining credit by false pretenses. They are Delilah Raila and Ivy Cheptoo.

The two were also charged with creating a disturbance in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace by allegedly insulting Gregory Nzamba of Black Stars Lounge and revelers at the restaurant.

They were accused of committing the offences on March 6 where they allegedly insulted everyone at the restaurant while drunk.

The two became unruly at around 2:30am and allegedly started creating a disturbance, hurling insults at Nzamba saying they wouldn’t pay for the drinks they had taken.

Nzamba tried to calm them down and told them to look at their bill but they reportedly told him off.

When they later sobered up, they declined to pay the bill and were reported to officers at Kilimani police station who arrested them.

At Kibera law courts, they denied the charges before senior resident magistrate Renee Kitangwa.

They were granted a cash bail of Sh30, 000 each.

Elsewhere, a retired military man who failed to settle a bill of Sh51,600 for beer and food he ordered for himself and other revelers at a bar in Langata to celebrate President-elect William Ruto’s victory in the August presidential elections has been charged with fraudulently incurring credit.

Simon Macharia Mwangi was on August 17 charged with obtaining credit by false pretenses at a bar along Magadi road in Langata, Nairobi on August 15, 2022.

On that day, Mr Mwangi is reported to have asked the restaurant’s management to serve all patrons at the establishment with their favourite drinks immediately Dr Ruto was announced as the winner of the presidential election.

Revelers at the restaurant then ordered for assorted alcoholic drinks and food. Mr Mwangi is alleged to have ordered food and beer for friends he had turned up with and told other patrons to invite their friends for free beer to celebrate Ruto’s victory.

The accused failed to pay up after the food and drinks were served. It was at that point that the establishment’s management bundled him into a car and took him to Hardy Police Station.

At the Kibera Law Courts, where he was arraigned before Senior Principal Magistrate Philip Mutua, Mr Mwangi pleaded guilty to the charges but claimed that the bill was incurred by his friends.

He was presumed to have denied the charges and granted a cash bail of Sh40,000.

This month, a 40-year-old man who ordered food and drinks worth Sh24, 600 for himself and friends at a city pub and failed to pay pleaded guilty to charges of obtaining credit by false pretenses at the Makadara Law Courts on Tuesday December 20.

Evans Owino admitted charges that he incurred a debt or liability of the amount from Julia Carol Muthoni by falsely pretending he was in a position to pay for food and assorted drinks he consumed with friends at the East Park Pub in Nairobi on December 18.

Mr. Owino incurred the debt at Ms. Muthoni’s pub where he enjoyed meals and drinks in company of friends.

He pleaded guilty to charges of obtaining credit by false pretenses contrary to section 316 (a) of the penal code when he appeared before Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwani.

The court heard that Mr. Owino went to the pub and ordered food and assorted drinks which he took with his friends.

He was then asked to pay by a waitress who was serving them but the accused person could not pay.

The matter was reported to Kamukunji police station and Mr. Owino was immediately arrested.

Police investigations established that he has been doing the same at clubs in the area.

Mr. Owino was convicted on his own plea of guilty and pleaded for more time to settle the bill instead of being sent to jail.

Ms. Okwani gave him until Friday December 23 to pay Ms. Muthoni the bill failure to which he will be sent to jail.

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