TikToker Rish Kamunge to spend a night at Capitol Hill
A Milimani magistrate court, on Thursday, March 27, 2025, detained Maria Wangari Kamunge, popularly known on TikTok as Rish Kamunge, until Friday, pending a ruling on a state prayer to detain her for seven days.
Kamunge is accused of obtaining money under false pretences, contrary to Section 313 of the Penal Code, Chapter 63 Laws of Kenya, by promising some Kenyans overseas jobs.
According to a supporting affidavit in a miscellaneous application by the investigative officer (IO) Joseph Karanja, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) sought to detain Kamunge for seven days to enable completion of investigations.
Karanja states that one Judith Bosobori, among other complainants, lodged complaints against Kamunge at the Nairobi Central DCI offices, citing having been defrauded by the TikToker.
The complaint states that between January 1, 2025, and March 20, 2025, Judith Bosibori and others approached Kamunge, who runs an agency under the name Trustpin Verified Agent Limited, which had promised to help her travel abroad for work.
It is also said that they were each required to pay between Ksh200,000 and Ksh300,000 for the processing money, which was paid through Mpesa number 0759669552.
The complainant said that after they made the payments, Kamunge failed to honour her promises, and she went missing without a trace.
Kamunge, while in one of her offices in Nairobi, was traced and arrested by the members of the public on March 26, 2025, and taken to the Central Police Station.
Karanja states that after word spread around about Kamunge’s arrest, many complainants came out at the DCI offices and recorded statements of her defrauding them.
Appearing before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina, the state prosecutor told the court that releasing Kamunge at this stage will put her life in danger.
“Although she has a right per the constitution, the IO has given various grounds to support his application, and the two more substantive reasons to have the accused detained are for her safety,” the DPP prosecutor told the court.
He further stated that the IO has reliable information that the members of the public are likely to harm the respondent if released on bail at this stage.
He also stated that the respondent is a flight risk, adding that it took them two months to arrest the respondent after the complaints were recorded against her.
However, her lawyers, Gicheha Lewis and Kubo Alex, strongly opposed the IO’s prayer to detain her for seven days, arguing that the IO had not given enough grounds to detain their client.
They argued that she is a single mom who is the sole provider of her child, saying that it would be unfair to the child if she were detained for seven days.
“The lady before you is a single mother; she has a school-going daughter whom she has full custody of, and she relies on her fully. For her to be held for seven days, it will not be in the best interest for the child,” Lawyer Kubo told the court.
He also argued that Kamunge was not hiding for the two months they have been looking for her, as stated, but she has been out of the country.
Additionally, they refuted the claim that Kamunge was arrested, telling the court that she willingly presented herself to police to record a complaint about disturbance by unknown people at her office.
They said that the application did not meet the constitutional grounds to detain their client in police custody.
Kubo and Gucheha urged the court to give their client reasonable bail terms, promising to ensure all orders given by court are adhered to.
“We are willing to disclose her place of abode to the IO, her place of work, and also, as her advocates, we will present her at any place. IO Karanja will require her to assist in investigations of the matter,” Kamunge’s lawyers stated.
Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina directed Kamunge to be detained at the Capitol Hill police station for the night. He will rule on the state prayer to detain her for seven days on Friday, March 28, 2025, at 9 am.
