Kenyan Woman Charged with Impersonation and Cybercrime Released on Bail Amidst Defense Opposition

A middle-aged woman, Magdalene Barua, was arraigned at Milimani Law Courts on Tuesday, facing three charges, including impersonation. Before Magistrate Wandia Nyamu, Barua pleaded not guilty to all three counts and was granted release on a cash bail of 50,000 Kenyan shillings or a bond of 250,000.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sought to deny the accused person bail until a pre-bail report was provided, but the defense lawyer, Mr. Cicil Miller, successfully opposed this request.

Miller argued that the accused is a Kenyan who had already been released on a police bond of 10,000 Kenyan shillings. He assured the court that her whereabouts can be traced by the police, countering the need for further restriction.

In addition to the charge of impersonation, Magdalene faced allegations of misuse of cybercrime. The chargesheet stated that on March 16, 2023, at 11:56 pm, at an undisclosed location within the Republic of Kenya, she falsely represented herself as the late Robert Cullen’s Murimi. Magdalene allegedly used the email address robbertmcullens@gmail.com to send fraudulent school fees claims to various recipients, including bakate01@gmail.com, mjourneys@gmail.com, jane@bandaschool.com, finance@hillcrest.com, wangeci.mbuthia@hillcrest.ac.ke, executiveofficer@un.org, inger.undersen@un.org, kathleen.creavalle@un.org, and unep-africa@un.org.

The court scheduled the next mention of the case for December 5, 2023, before court number 5, for pre-trial directions.