A criminal case against a Real estate agent who claimed to have contracted chickenpox after receiving more than Sh16 million from a New York-based private auditor will proceed on October 26.
The case against Stephen Njoroge Mbugua adjourned after two witnesses from Equity Bank and NCBDA Bank completed their evidence.
The witnesses produced bank statements showing how money was deposited and withdrawn to pay the accused person by the complainant.
Witnesses took Milimani chief magistrate Susan Shitubi through several bank documents which included opening account documents indicating that the complainant operated the bank accounts at the two banks.
In the case, lawyer Robert Asembo is watching brief for the complainant Joseph Gitau who is currently living in the UK.
During the last hearing, the court was told that Mbugua contracted chickenpox after receiving the money and flew to the Philippines for treatment.
Pleading for justice, complainant Joseph Gitau had urged the court to legally avenge him since “it is well over three years since he paid for the land and nothing is forthcoming.”
Mbugua has since denied defrauding him 16 million pretending he would sell him half an acre of land in the leafy Karen Estate, near Hillcrest.
Gitau said he wired the money into the accused’s dollar account held at Equity Bank Karen Branch on October 1, 2017.”
“Soon after I transferred the money through New York Bankers I called Mbugua for him to confirm whether he had received the same in his dollar account, at the Equity Bank, Karen Branch,” Gitau said.
He told the court, that Mbugua confirmed receipt of the money after three days as he had switched off his phone, then flew to Philipines for specialised treatment after allegedly contracting chickenpox.
Gitau said he kept communicating via email and WhatsApp to the accused about transferring the money to his Kenyan Bank as earlier agreed before concluding the sale agreement.
He testified to date that he has never gotten his money back despite concerted efforts which culminated in him asking the police to intervene. He also has not been allocated the land.
The magistrate heard in mid-2017, that Gitau travelled from New York to Nairobi to be shown by the accused the upmarket property he had bought.
“Mbugua had placed an advertisement. In the advert read out to the magistrate, Mbugua had alleged there were “half-acre plots lined for sale at Karen Nairobi.”
The witness produced a sale agreement between him and the accused over the sale of the said Karen property. He also tabled correspondences’ between them.
In his bid to recover either his money or land and to avoid litigation Gitau told the court he invoked alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in vain.
“I even informed the accused sister to ask him to pay me in vain,” Gitau told the court.