Two school cooks jailed for six months for stealing food worth Sh3000
Two cooks at Nairobi Primary School who stole assorted foodstuffs worth Sh3000 will serve six months jail terms if they fail to pay a fine of Sh20,000.
Mr Musyoka Kalola and Mr Fred Nyakundi were convicted after pleading guilty to charges of stealing two packets of maize flour, two kilograms of green grams, two kilograms of sugar and two kilograms of beans.
Other items that the two admitted stealing include one kilogramme of salt, assorted soap bars, four loaves of bread, one and a half kilogramme of meat, seven onions, 23 tomatoes and one batch of ripped bananas which came to their possession by virtue of their employment.
During the incident that happened on May 24, 2022, the two are reported to have packed the stolen items in sacks and boxes. The accused persons admitted the charges before Senior Resident Magistrate Mwaniki Kamau of the Kibera Law Courts.
They were to be charged with an alternative count of handling stolen property, but the charge was dropped following their guilty plea. A third accomplice did not show up in court to answer to the charges and his cash bail of Sh5,000 issued by police was forfeited to the state.
The court heard that on the material day, the school’s head, Mr Munyao Mbondo, visited the kitchen and found the items at the cooks’ changing room. He summoned the school caterer to the room as a witness.
When the three were asked to explain the circumstances under which they had packed the items they failed to give a satisfactory explanation. The head teacher then called officers at Kileleshwa police station who visited the scene, took an inventory and arrested the suspects.
The school had experienced theft of foodstuffs which prompted Mr Mbondo to check on the kitchen.
In mitigation, the accused persons pleaded for leniency. They said they stole the foodstuff to feed their families and pleaded with the court to consider that they have families that fully dependent on them.