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How Nairobi man defrauded his ailing friend’s wife of Sh2m in fake land deal


A 42-year-old fraud suspect who allegedly conned his bedridden friend’s wife of Sh2million has been charged with fraud.

Mr Esrom Kamande Kamau is facing charges of obtaining Sh2,097,680 from Jacinta Wangari Kimotho by false pretenses with a promise to sell her a parcel of land with an incomplete house in Thome Garden estate in Kasarani, Nairobi.

He is accused of defrauding the complainant, who works in the USA, on diverse dates between September 25, 2020 and April 15th this year, while colluding with others not before court.

Ms Kimotho had met Mr Kamau through her husband in 2019 and learnt that the accused person was selling a parcel of land in Thome on behalf of a senior politician who was then a governor.

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The complainant was promised that the incomplete house would belong to her once she bought the land where it is built.

The two reached a mutual agreement that Ms Kimotho would start making payment for the land, through communication on social media and she transferred money from her bank to Mr Kamau.

When she later requested for the land’s title deed, Mr Kamau allegedly claimed that the governor had requested for more money to get the document.

Earlier this year, Ms Kimotho was sent a title deed and after a search, she established that the said land was non-existent, according to the lands registry records.

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Ms Kimotho later flew back to Kenya seeking to meet Mr Kamau over the matter but he allegedly refused to meet her. She later reported the matter to the police and Mr Kamau was traced and arrested.

Mr Kamau denied the charges before Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwani of the Makadara Law Courts and was released on a bond of Sh1million and an alternative cash bail of a similar amount.

The case will be mentioned on August 7, 2023 before hearing starts on November 11, 2023. The prosecution office has listed Ms Kimotho’s bank statements indicating her transactions with Mr Kamau as exhibits in the case.

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