Mombasa senior resident magistrate David Odhiambo sentenced 27-year-old Samuel Mwithiga Wanjiku, a boda boda rider, to seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the offense of retaining Ksh200,000 that had been wrongly sent to his M-Pesa account.

Mwithiga stated that he had received the M-Pesa amount, informed his family that he had won a lottery and proceeded to buy a motorcycle, opened a hair salon for his wife, and gifted his mother Ksh50,000.

He further admitted to the court that he blocked the sender of the money on his M-Pesa due to his frequent calls demanding a refund of the money.

Wanjiku had been charged with intentionally withholding payment delivered erroneously contrary to section 35 of the Computer Misuse/Cyber Crime Act 2018 following his arrest in Nyandarua by detectives.