Mombasa Court Convicts Two of Using Witchcraft to Con Woman Sh30 Million

A Mombasa court has convicted two people who used witchcraft to con a woman Sh30 million.

Musa Mohamed Naaman and Nassir Musa Mohamed are set to be sentenced on September 24th after they were found guilty of defrauding Rose Nafula Okumu.

After losing her husband Frank Carlel Bullens in 2008, Rose decided she needed to move to Belgium to start life afresh but she had to first sell all the property worth Sh70 million she inherited from the deceased including apartments in Diani.

Two years after putting the property up for sale, she could not find a buyer and a friend advised her to seek the assistance of a witchdoctor.

Rose was hooked up with a witchdoctor named Mbarak by Musa Mohamed Naaman, who was to give her charms to help in the quick sale of the apartments.

The two visited Mbarak’s offices where Naaman assessed the situation after reading her palms and concluded that she needed to give a cow for the ritual.

Rose was then ushered into a house where bundles of cash were dropped and she was told the money belonged to a genie. She then started giving money to the witchdoctor so that the properties could be sold.

In September 2012, a buyer showed up and agreed to buy the apartments for Sh55 million. The transaction was facilitated by an attorney, who would then transfer the money to Rose.

From her account, it appears like her visits to the witchdoctor caused some confusion in her mind and after receiving the money, she gave Naaman Sh30 million.

The money was transferred to an account belonging to Nassir Musa Mohamed, who was introduced to her as Naaman’s cousin since he (Naaman) did not have a bank account.

Naaman is said to have told Rose that they were putting up a house for her in Bamburi, so she continued sending him money whenever he requested for more.

It is during her numerous trips to a cave, where she found statues of snakes and some Asian men, that she decided against relocating to Belgium and decided to settle in Kenya. At the cave, she would withdraw money and send it to the witchdoctor for sacrifice. 

After withdrawing all the money from her account, Rose came back to her senses but Naaman, Nassir, and the witchdoctor disappeared.

Rose reported the matter to the police and investigations commenced, leading to the arrest of Naaman and Nassir in 2017.

The two were arraigned in a Shanzu court where they were charged with several counts of cheating and obtaining money by false pretenses.

They were charged that on September 13th, 2012, at Nyali estate, they obtained Sh12.7 million by pretending they could build Rose a house. They were also accused of obtaining Sh5 million from the woman by falsely pretending that they would multiply it to Sh58 million.

Rose told Senior Resident Magistrate David Odhiambo that after spending all the money, she did not see any house or the suspects.

She told the court that the witchdoctor had agreed to help her to attract customers at a cost of Sh25,000, which she paid but she could not explain how she ended up losing Sh33 million.

“Mbarak came to my business and exorcised the witchcraft. I found assorted horns, animal skins, and other paraphernalia. I believed Mbarak was a super witch doctor,” she said

Rose testified that she later established that it was Naaman who exorcised the house and that Mbarak read the books while leading him to extract the paraphernalia.

“The first day I heard voices but none of them came from the accused persons. I met a genie at the caves, it was a human wearing red clothes. It was Naaman who took me there,” Rose said, adding that Naaman used to give her concoctions to drink.

“When I met Naaman, I got mentally mixed up and lost interest in going to Europe. I, therefore, changed my plans of going to Belgium so that I could settle with the genie.”

Bank statement produced in court showed Rose transferred or withdrew Sh33 million. Investigating officer Sergeant Johnson Wambulwa confirmed the figure, adding that the woman had sold three motor vehicles and gave all the money to Naaman.

In their defense, Naaman and Nassir denied obtaining money from the woman.

Naaman told the court that he met Rose when he visited Mbarak and found her there and learned she had a property she wanted to sell. He connected her to a buyer and never followed up on what transpired after that.

“I was then called while in Tanzania and informed that the police were looking for me over Ms Okumu’s lost money,” he said, adding that he was not paid his commission after the property was sold.

On his part, Nassir also denied receiving any money from the woman, or ever meeting her and Naaman, who he claimed he met at the police station for the first time.

 “I felt bad that Sh7 million was withdrawn from my account without my knowledge,” he said.

While convicting the two, magistrate Odhiambo said the case was funny and sad, and wondered how an adult, presumably of sound mind got entangled in a labyrinth of witchcraft driven by greed any folly.

“She got exposed to merciless crooks who dangled utopian wishes to her which she swallowed hook, line, and sinker and ended up (almost) destitute,” the magistrate noted.

He added that “someone would ask: How can a normal person sell a property at Sh55 million and lose it all in bits until she is dry? The belief in spirits is not shared by many but those who believe in spirits do so to the extent that they can never be convinced otherwise.”

Naaman and Nassir were given 10 days to reach an agreement with Rose on how she will recover the money, failure to which they will be jailed. The sentencing is set for September 24th.