Man in court for aiding thugs withdraw cash from robbery victim’s phone
An attendant in an M-Pesa shop, who helped suspected thugs to withdraw money from a robbery victim’s mobile phone account has been charged with aiding theft.
Hesbon Okioma Auka is facing charges of accessory, contrary to Section 396 as read with section 397 of the penal code, in connection to the incident that saw the said victim, Peter Muturi, lose Sh9,912.
The accused is reported to have assisted an accomplice, whom he knew had committed robbery with violence, to withdraw the cash from Mr Muturi’s phone. Mr Auka is accused of committing the offence on June 25, 2022 at the shop in Kianda shopping centre, Kibera.
During the incident, Muturi was robbed of his mobile phone as he was cycling before he stopped to take some pictures. It is at that pointe when he was confronted by four men armed with pangas and an axe. The assailants ordered him to surrender everything.
The four men then forced him to disclose his phone’s password and M-Pesa pin number before letting him go. They later withdrew the cash at an M-Pesa shop where Mr Auka was an attendant.
The accused denied the charges before Resident Magistrate William Tullen at the Kibera Law Courts. He was released on cash bail of Sh100,000 and an alternative bond of Sh200,000. The case will be mentioned on July 28, 2022 for a pretrial and fixing of hearing dates.