A young woman was on Monday charged in a Nakuru court with defrauding her employer of nearly Sh200,000 in four transactions on the same day.
Maureen Wanjiku, who was employed as an M-PESA attendant, is alleged to have transferred a total of Sh178,000 to two different people claiming that she mistook the two to be her employer, George Mwaura, on September 11.
The court heard that on the material day, the accused first sent Sh22,500 to the first number before depositing another Sh23,700 to the next number.
She then went ahead to send another Sh70,000 to the former before repeating the same to the second person this time sending him Sh63,000.
Mwaura, who told the court that he was both a pastor and a businessman, told Senior Principal Magistrate Liz Gicheha that the accused had a hidden motive behind the reckless transactions.
He said Wanjiku might have been working with the recipients of the amount who she says turned out to be conmen.
"She told me that she sent money to a number which was saved 'dad' in the transaction phone and which had sent her a text message directing her to do so. However, it is very clear she is the one who saved it so in order to cover her tracks for those reckless transactions. She must be known to the conmen she is saying tricked her," he stated.
Mwaura told the court that the accused had previously lost money in the same fashion but he had forgiven her.
In her defence, the accused argued that she thought she had sent money to to the complainant only to realise later that she had been conned.
"As per the name on the mobile phone I was using, it was saved 'dad' and all this while I thought I was sending money to him," she stated.
The complainant told the court that his business was adversely affected by the amount lost and requested for speedy compensation.
The case will proceed on February 2, 2016.