Transgender man in court for stealing from a reveler while posing as a woman
A data analyst who picked up a man at a nightclub in Kayole, Nairobi, and took him home thinking he was a woman is counting his losses after being drugged and robbed.
Johnson Onyango lost Sh8000 in cash, five mobile phones, and a pair of shoes worth Sh7000, among other items valued at Sh145,000.
The man who stole from Onyango – identified as Evans Willis Ouma – is now facing a charge of stupefying to commit an offence contrary to Section 230 of the Penal Code after he allegedly administered a drug to subdue the complainant.
Ouma, who works as a dancer, also faces charges of theft and handling stolen property contrary to Section 268 (1) of the Penal Code.
He is accused of stealing the items from Onyango on December 8, 2023, after they met in a club.
Prosecutors accuse Ouma of dishonestly retaining a mobile phone and a set of keys belonging to Onyango when he was arrested at his home in Dandora, Nairobi on December 9.
He is accused of retaining the items with intent to steal, knowing or having reason to believe that they were stolen property.
Onyango was having a drink at the bar when a “woman” approached him and asked him to dance, which he did. He later left the club to spend the night with her at his home.
But when they got home, Ouma, who had been pretending to be a woman all along, asked them to continue drinking and served Onyango wine.
Onyango told police during the investigation that while he was drinking he began to pass out, but he could hear Ouma making calls to people he had asked to bring a motorcyclist.
The next day, he woke up feeling dizzy and exhausted and realised that the ‘woman’ was missing from the house and the items had been stolen. He reported the incident to the Kayole police station.
The police tracked Ouma to his home, where he was arrested. After his arrest, Onyango learned that the person he had taken home was a man.
Ouma denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi of the Makadara Law Courts.
Ms Mwangi had registered that Oua is transgender and was unsure where to detain Ouma and asked him where he wanted to be detained – in the women’s or men’s prison.
But prison officials told her in court that the suspect had been held in a men’s prison in the past.
Ouma was released on Sh200,000 bail with no option for cash bail.
The case will come up for mention on January 9, before the trial begins on July 9, 2024.
Image: Evans Ouma in the dock at the Makadara Magistrates’ Court. PHOTO|JOSEPH NDUNDA