Notorious granny to serve 35 years for stealing lorry

Joyce Wairimu Kariuki is not your ordinary granny. The 62-year-old hardcore criminal, who was on Tuesday jailed for 35 years for robbery with violence, had between the year 2006 and 2008 been involved in other criminal activities that earned her a total jail term of 15 years and six months.

She had six different cases from various courts. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the grandmother has at least three other cases pending before court– one in Kibwezi for the theft of lorries.

A senior police officer yesterday told People Daily that Wairimu was operating in a gang of five people, including a woman who is yet to be arrested.

They would target transporters and lure them all the way to Loitoktok, pretending they were going to purchase onions, but later rob them of the trucks.

They would then pick young men on the way who pretended to be loaders.

The men would then eject the driver out of the car and force them to take some unknown drugs.

“We used to find unconscious people dumped in the area. They would later narrate to the police what happened,” a senior officer said.

Most of the lorries were driven to Tanzania where they were sold.

Investigations were then launched, leading to her arrest and subsequent prosecution.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji yesterday said the prosecution presented seven witnesses who testified against the accused.

Given the age and the demeanour of Wairimu – an alumnus of a prestigious national school – no transporter would suspect her. But looks can be deceiving.

“Following numerous reports of stolen motor vehicles, especially lorries in Nakuru, Nairobi and Mombasa between 2018 and 2019, the DCI narrowed down on the suspect around whom the thefts revolved around  despite having been released from the said prison after completing a 15-year jail term,” Kinoti said.

In October 2006, she was jailed for three years by Kilifi Senior Resident Magistrate and the following year, in January,  she was jailed for two years by a court in Nyeri.

In November 2007, Wairimu was jailed for a year by the Senior Resident Magistrate Kigumo.

The same month Chief Magistrate Court Mombasa found her guilty of a different crime and jailed her for two years.

In another case before Nyahururu court she was jailed for three  years in March 2008 and another before Kwale Court for four years in September 2008.

One of the most prominent cases, and which exposed the sexagenarian’s craftiness, involved attempted theft of pensioners’ funds in a well-planned scheme.

On November 7, 2003, the Ministry of Labour was issued with cheque books and in February the following year, the ministry’s cash office was broken into and the cheque books were stolen.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) was immediately alerted and the bank’s official signatory, Jeremiah Tomno stopped payment of all the stolen cheques.

The scheme began on April 8, 2005 when Wairimu opened two separate accounts with Postbank in Mombasa.

At the bank’s Moi Avenue branch, she presented herself as Alice Wairimu Kamau, holder of identity card number 2302953.

The bank officials opened for her the account number KMOB BSA0033129.

Forged cheques

Wairimu then proceeded to the same bank’s Savani House branch where she presented an ID number 1888300 bearing the name Joyce Wairimu Kariuki.

She managed to open the account. Both  accounts had Wairimu’s passport photo, according to detectives and court records.

The same day, a man that she would later be charged with together in court, Michael Macharia Ngatia, went to the bank’s branch and opened an account, number KMOMBSA004327X.

One of the stolen forged cheques from the Ministry of Labour serial number 072251 was presented to the bank by courier for payment. Sh560,200 was to be credited into Ngatia’s account.

Exactly a week after opening the account, on April 15, Wairimu and another man who had been sent by Ngatia went to Postbank to withdraw cash.

 The then regional manager Coast Joseph Kasiu alerted the police that some people had gone to the bank seeking to withdraw funds from the forged cheques. Several people, including Wairimu, were arrested.

Wairimu and her accomplices were charged in a Mombasa court accused of stealing, attempted stealing and forgery.

On November 20, 2007 she was convicted of two counts of attempted stealing.

She was however not convicted of stealing the cheques as no evidence was adduced to show her involvement.