A man who identified himself to court as a ‘hustler’ has been charged with stealing property worth Sh9.6 million from his former employer.
According to the prosecution, Moses Maina Waigiri, on July 19, 2020, broke into a godown belonging to Book Distributors on Waruga Lane in Nairobi County.
After breaking into the warehouse, the prosecution told the court that Wairigi stole textbooks, shelves, cabinets equipment, bicycle, manual industrial weighing machine, office furniture, and other items all valued at Sh9.6 million.
The prosecution said the property that was stolen in the godown belonged to Julie Wanjiku Wanyeki.
Immediately after pleading not guilty before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Zainab Abdul, Waigiri told the court that he is a ‘hustler’ who used to work for the complainant, a job he said he quit last year
He told the magistrate that the complaint went looking for him, demanding to know why he had stolen from her, an offense he said was committed by those who were hired after he left.
According to the court documents, the complainant had rented a Godown where she used to store books and furniture.
On July 25, 2020, she said she was informed by Security Guard officers that Waigiri had gone to the godown with a lorry on July 19, where he forcefully gained entry into the store and carted away the goods mentioned earlier.
The Security Guard officers said that Waigiri purported to have leased the Godown.
When the complainant went to the godown, she said that she found it locked with a new padlock and after viewing the inside from a ventilation hole, she noticed it was empty.
The guards, she said, informed her that Waigiri had gone to the warehouse with several others not before the court, beat up the security guard assigned to the store and chased him away.
According to the prosecution, the suspects subdivided the Godown into smaller stores and assigned someone to rent them out to unsuspecting tenants.
Following his arrest, Waigiri claimed that he had been contracted by someone identified as Jimmy, now deceased, to subdivide the godown.
The court heard that the said Jimmy had died of Covid-19 in April 2020
Waigiri was released on Sh1 million cash bail or Sh3 million bond.
