Man captured on CCTV stealing inner wear denies charge

Pius Mugendi at Embu court. [Solomon Mwaniki, Standard]

A man who allegedly entered into a woman’s house and captured by CCTV cameras stealing underwear, only amused an Embu court after he denied the offence.

Pius Mugendi denied ever entering the house of Juliet Mawia and stealing six underwears valued at Sh1,500, despite the investigating officer in the case revealing to the court that he had CCTV footage showing him stealing the garments.

Mugendi told Senior Resident Magistrate Jean Ndengeri that he never entered the house of the complainant and that the charge had been fabricated, and that the person claimed to be on the CCTV footage was not him at all.

Owing to his denial, Ndengeri instructed the investigating officer to make available the CCTV footage so that the court could view it and determine whether the accused was telling the truth and thus decide his fate.  

The accused is facing charges “that on May 5, this year at around 11pm at Mikimbi village in Embu North Sub-County, he entered into a house belonging to Mawia in her absence and stole six inner wears valued at Sh1,500.”

The accused caused laughter when he denied that he stole the garments despite evidence of CCTV footage.

Ndengeri fixed mention of the case for December 7, 2020 when the investigating officer is expected to provide the footage to the court.

She further directed that the accused be provided with a copy of the footage so that he can also be able to prepare his defense.