KCSE Candidate in Court for Stealing Sh331,000 from Police Officer’s Sacco Account

A 17-year-old KCSE candidate was on Friday arraigned in court on suspicion of stealing over Sh300,000 from a police officer.

Gideon Rotich, who sat for his KCSE exam this year at Ngito Secondary School in Kipsigis, was arraigned at Milimani law courts in Nairobi where he was charged with one count of theft.

The court heard that on diverse dates between July 30th, 2020, and September 2nd, 2020 within the Republic of Kenya, the accused stole a total of Sh331,850 from a police Sacco account belonging to Nicholas Koech, a police officer based in Garissa.

Koech had gone to withdraw some money from an ATM when he discovered that the account had Sh5,000 only and Sh360,000 had been withdrawn by unknown people.
 
He immediately went to the police Sacco's offices where he lodged a complaint and requested a statement of the account.

The officer established that a Safaricom Simcard had been used to withdraw money from his account from July 30th to September 2nd, 2020.

Koech reported the matter to the Central police station in Nairobi on September 2nd, 2020 and officers commenced investigations, leading to the arrest of 47-year-old Sarah Chelangat, the mother of Rotich.

Upon interrogation, the woman told officers that her son used her identity card to register the Sim Card that was used for the theft.

She added that last year, her son told her that he had won some money through gambling and that he received a message from Kenya Police SACCO informing him that he had some money in the Sacco account.

Sarah said her son withdrew the money in intervals for his own use, and wanted to build a house at their home but her husband declined, prompting Rotich to leave home only to return after exhausting the money.

Koech claims the Sim Card Rotich used to withdraw the money belonged to him and he had registered M-banking before he lost it and acquired a new one.

Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi freed the minor on Sh50,000 bail or Sh100,000 bond but ordered police to detain him at Central police station until his parents prove he is a minor.

The matter will be mentioned on May 3rd, 2021.