Carpenter denies falsely obtaining money

A city carpenter who allegedly received Sh18, 000 deposit from a client so as to make two seats for him but failed to do so has been charged with obtaining the cash by false pretenses. Kelvin Otieno is accused of using false pretences to receive the money from Beatrice Awuor Osamba on diverse dates between January 26 and 28 this year at Ngara area in Nairobi, falsely pretending he was in a position to make her two single-seater chairs and a stool. Otieno is said to have received the cash from Ms Osamba through mobile money after they met at his workshop in Ngara. Ms Osamba had visited the workshop to purchase the seats and showed the suspect pictures of the items she wanted. They agreed on a price and the deposit she would pay, and the date she would collect the seats. Ms Osamba went ahead and sent the cash to Otieno in two installments. She returned on January 31 to collect the seats as agreed and was shown totally different seats from what she had ordered. The two disagreed and Otieno requested for time to sell some furniture from his workshop to pay Ms Osamba. She kept going back several times without getting the cash and decided to report to the police at Parklands police station. Otieno was arrested. He denied the charges before senior principal magistrate Derrick Kutto of Kibera law courts. The suspect was freed on a bond of Sh50, 000 and an alternative cash bail of Sh30, 000. The matter will be mentioned on March 7.