A Mombasa court has sentenced a boda boda rider to seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the offence of retaining Ksh200,000 that had been wrongly sent to his M-Pesa account.
Mombasa senior resident magistrate David Odhiambo sentenced 27-year-old Samuel Mwithiga Wanjiku to serve seven years after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Wanjiku had been charged with intentionally withholding payment delivered erroneously contrary to section 35 of the Computer Misuse/Cyber Crime Act 2018 following his arrest in Nyandarua by detectives.
He was later ferried to Mombasa for processing and was arraigned before the court on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
Withheld M-Pesa amount
In his submission before the court, Mwithiga stated that he had received the M-Pesa amount, informed his family that he had won a lottery and proceeded to buy a motorcycle, opened a hair salon for his wife and gifted his mother Ksh50,000.
“After l received the money l blocked the sender and bought myself a Boda Boda since l had been employed by someone else as a rider, but after my family inquired about the source of the money, l told them l had won a lottery,” Mwithiga told the court.
He further admitted to the court that he blocked the sender of the money on his M-Pesa due to his frequent calls demanding a refund of the money.
The charges read that on June 14, 2024, at an unknown area within the Republic of Kenya, Mwithiga intentionally and unlawfully withheld electronic payment of Ksh200,000 erroneously sent to his M-Pesa account which ought to have been delivered to Phina Habare Buya.
The money had been sent by the complainant from Texas, United States.
He was given 14 days to appeal his sentence.