Woman who eloped with boyfriend, fakes kidnap to fleece Shs 6m out of husband

A married Kenyan woman who eloped with a younger boyfriend and claimed to have been kidnapped was yesterday arrested by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Kenya (DCI Kenya).

According to DCI Kenya, Jane Wairimu Ndung’u disappeared last Friday, September 17, leaving her husband Brian Mutuku worried about her whereabouts.

That night as he was pondering his next move, a distraught Mutuku received a call from his wife who sounded panic-stricken, claiming to have been kidnapped by unknown people who were demanding Kshs 200,000 (about UGX 6.4 million) as ransom.

She claimed to have been kidnapped as she was walking along Loita street, in Nairobi’s central business district (CBD).

The worried husband immediately filed a missing person’s report at DCI Embakasi. However, as the detectives were pursuing the suspects, Wairimu’s kin and the husband raised Kshs 17,000 (about UGX 540,000) mobile money and sent it to the alleged kidnappers.

Unbeknownst to them, Wairimu had eloped with a cab driver to his one-roomed abode in Malaa, where they were enjoying soft life unperturbed, after withdrawing the sent amount.

As days went by, the family became impatient and formed a WhatsApp group to make contributions towards her release. A further Kshs 40,000 (about UGX 1.2m) was sent on Monday this week and the two traveled from Malaa to Mtito-a-Ndei to withdraw the money, ostensibly to distract police detectives who were on their trail.

As detectives from Special Service Unit and Crime Research & Intelligence Bureau were about to pounce on the duo, there was a sudden turn of events.

The alleged kidnapper Richard Mogire had promised his 21-year-old girlfriend a student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology that he would take her out over the weekend.

The girlfriend kept calling and sending him messages asking him why he had stood her up. Mogire tried to explain that he would make it up to her this coming weekend but she would hear none of it and demanded that he picks her up, lest she dumps him.

Afraid of losing his 'main girlfriend', Mogire switched the vehicle he was earlier using to avoid detection, picked his lovestruck 'main girlfriend' from the Juja based university and went with her to the one-roomed house where he had stayed with Wairimu since her faked disappearance.

As detectives later established after arresting them, the three had stayed together in the one-roomed abode since Monday, until Wednesday afternoon when they were apprehended in Sagana.

How Mogire convinced his campus girl to hang on and play ball yet she wasn’t part of the initial plan, still remains a puzzle.

Wairimu explained that she had forced her disappearance to get away from creditors, who were on her neck since she lost her job.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is cautioning members of the public to desist from such actions and seek alternative problem solving mechanisms, since the time and resources used by our specialized teams in the fake disappearance of Jane Wairimu would have been utilized on much more deserving cases.

The three are currently cooling their heels at Embakasi police station, being processed for arraignment in court today.

Story adapted from DCI-Kenya with slight edits