Househelp steals Sh2.6m to build house for grandma

A househelp has been arraigned in court over allegations of stealing money in dollar denomination from her employer.

Tracy Tsindondo Amutamwa was presented before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Gilbert Shikwe where Corporal Francis Mwenda from Gigiri Directorate of Criminal Investigations applied to have the accused detained for 10 days at Gigiri Police Station, Nairobi in order for police to complete their investigations before charging her.

According to Mwenda, the accused was arrested on Friday last week for alleged stealing by the servant.

The complainant Yu Yanping, a Chinese national and a businesswoman,  told police she discovered that she had been losing money in her house.

Between June 3 and 4, 2024, she discovered that $750 equivalent to Sh97,500 was missing.

“The only outsider who has unlimited access in her house is the house help (respondent), therefore, upon questioning her she admitted that she had been stealing money and giving it to her boyfriend, Rasmey Maingi,” Mwenda told the magistrate.

The officer went on to tell the court that upon Yanping doing a proper audit of all her money she realised that $20,000 (Sh2.6 million) was missing.

Mwenda told the magistrate that the accused too indicated to the complainant that out of the money she stole she managed to build a house for her grand mother.

From the interrogation they obtained from Amutamwa, the court was told police gathered information that she had started stealing from her employer on March 15, 2024.

“She had been stealing money in bits over a long period of time and after giving to her boyfriend he usually sent her share through M-pesa after changing to Kenyan shillings,”Mwenda saisd in his affidavit.

He stated that by the time of her arrest she was found with a balance of Sh100 000 in her M-pesa account.

Mwenda wants the suspect held for 10 days in order to enable police to obtain M-pesa statements from Safaricom for both the accused and her boyfriend.

Police also requested the 10 days during which they would trace and arrest Maingi.

Police, according to Mwenda, want to travel to Chavakali in Vihiga County and document the house alleged to have been built using the proceeds of stolen money.

The officer added that police fear that if the accused is released before the completion of the investigations she might not appear in court.