A man who was found guilty of stealing Sh740,000 from unsuspecting Kenyans in the pretence of being able to sell them parcels of land has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Kennedy Njenga Nyambura was convicted on three counts of obtaining money by false pretences on various dates between August 2012 and July 2014 at Kaputei North in Kajiado County.
While sentencing the accused, Milimani senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi ruled that the prosecution had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused person indeed committed the offence of fraud.
Ochoi noted that although the prosecution submitted that the convict was a first-time offender, the victims of the fraud suffered immense loss both monetarily and psychologically.
"It is the responsibility of this court to ensure the rights of the victims to get justice are equally protected. I will therefore sentence the accused person to serve two years in count one and two, and twelve months in count three. All the sentences to run concurrently" ruled the Magistrate.
The offender who could not control himself after the sentence, broke down telling the court that he fell during a praise and worship session in prison and was not feeling well.
He added that he has an aged mother to take care of who will be vulnerable if he is sent to prison.
Njenga has 14 days to appeal the sentence.
In the first count, Njenga was charged with fraudulently obtaining Sh250,000 from Alice Njeri Njoroge by falsely pretending to be in a position to sell her three plots of land located within Kitengela in Kajiado County.
He faced another criminal charge of falsely obtaining Sh250,000 as further payment from Nathan Macharia by falsely pretending to be in a land transaction business with Alice Njoroge.
Further, he was charged with obtaining Sh240,000 from John Njoroge Kariuki by falsely pretending he would sell him a plot on a land parcel located within Kitengela.
