A self proclaimed prophet who swindled a family in Maraigushu of money promising to ‘expel’ and cleanse their home of demons has been jailed for two and a half years.
Mark Karanja Ndung’u, 27, appeared before Naivasha senior resident magistrate Selina Muchungi charged with obtaining Sh86,610 from Peter Ng’ang’a Njuguna and his mother through false pretence.
On the August 31, 2013 Njuguna who had been introduced to the ‘prophet’ by a friend met in Nakuru town and together they travelled to his mother’s homestead in Maraigushu in Naivasha to cast out the demons.
However, ‘Prophet Ndung’u’ told them that it was a precondition that they pay him some money before he could embark on the cleansing ceremony.
He said he had ‘seen’ that the work ahead that involved travelling to Mombasa was very hard as the woman’s piece of cloth had been stolen and taken to a witchdoctor apparently to harm her.
Njuguna’s mother sold her cow and a goat and raised Sh66,000 that was required by the accused before starting ‘work’.
Njunguna then met the accused in Nakuru town again and handed him the money together with another Sh4500 as transport to Mombasa.
Days later, nothing seemed to have changed at the homestead and that is when it dawned on Njuguna and his mother that the ‘prophet’ was a fake and had lied to them.
The accused was later arrested after he supposedly returned from Mombasa and arraigned in court.