Mechanic charged with selling client’s motorbike

A mechanic who is reported to have sold a client’s motorbike instead of repairing it has been charged at the Kibera Law courts with theft and obtaining money by false pretenses. Gitau Kariuki is accused of stealing Peter Mwaniki’s motorcycle valued at Sh141, 790 in Nairobi on June 27, 2016. Kariuki is also facing a count of obtaining Sh3000 by false pretenses after allegedly receiving Sh3000 from Mwaniki as charges for repairing his motorcycle. Mwaniki had taken his bike for repair at Kariuki’s workshop. They agreed on the charge of Sh3000 which Mwaniki paid. He was told to leave his motorcycle to be repaired and that he will be called to collect it after the repairs. After waiting for a long time without being called, Mwaniki returned to the garage but did not find his bike and Kariuki was not available to explain. He kept calling the mechanic but there was no explanation on the whereabouts of his motorcycle. Mwaniki later heard that the bike had been sold as scrap because of overstaying in the workshop. But he later learnt the bike was being used by someone else and reported it to police who recovered it. Kariuki was arrested and agreed to settle the matter out of court with the complainant which he did not, prompting police to charge him. He denied the charges before senior principal magistrate Derrick Kutto of Kibera law courts. He was freed on a Sh300, 000 plus a surety of a similar amount and an alternative cash bail of Sh100, 000. The case will be mentioned on March 9.