Fraud suspect Abiud Esonga pleads to return money

A man accused of conning a woman out of Sh752,000 after claiming he would sell her a car has pleaded with a Nairobi court to allow him to finish repaying her.

Mr Abiud Esonga Mulwale claimed on Friday that he had repaid about Sh170,000 to complainant Jane Kashendi, and pleaded with Milimani Senior Resident Magistrate Sinkiyan Tobiko to give him time to clear the balance.

The court heard that on May 7, 2015 at the Commercial Bank of Africa in Upper Hill, Mr Mulwale stole Sh226,000 from the woman, an amount paid to him for an account of SBT Company Limited.

He was further accused of obtaining Sh526,600 from Ms Kashendi by pretending to be in a position to clear her vehicle at the port of Mombasa.

The charge sheet states that he committed the offence on May 25, 2015 at National Bank of Kenya's Kiambu branch.

TRIAL

The matter came up for hearing but the suspect told the magistrate that he deposited an amount of money into Ms Kashendi’s account on Thursday evening. He said that given more time, he would clear the balance.

But the magistrate, who was ready to continue with the hearing, said the man had already had spent 16 months claiming he was willing to repay the amount.

She said the trial will go on as planned if he will not have settled the amount by March 2020, when the case will be mentioned.

The hearing was set for March 10, 2020.

Mr Mulwale, who is accused of defrauding several people by promising to help them acquire vehicles, has denied two counts of stealing by agent and obtaining money by false pretences.

He is also accused of defrauding Ms Rose Mwende of Sh2.8 million in 2016, in a case pending before a Kiambu court.