She made a clever hideout in her house that police couldn't spot for 3 years, now she's in prison
Claire Marisiana Odimwa at at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on April 6, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Claire Marisiana Odimwa, who is facing a Sh204 million tax evasion case and a separate Sh4.9 million fraud case, had been skipping court since 2019.
- In her absence, she was found guilty in the Sh4.9 million case, but the sentence had not been handed to her because she was nowhere to be seen.
A woman who had modified a space under the stairs in her Buruburu house into a hidden bunker to evade numerous police raids was outwitted on Wednesday after authorities busted her.
Claire Marisiana Odimwa, who is facing a Sh204 million tax evasion case and a separate Sh4.9 million fraud case, had skipped court since 2019. In her absence, she was found guilty in the Sh4.9 million case, but the sentence had not been handed to her because she was nowhere to be seen.
In the meantime, the court had cancelled her bond and, in 2020, it issued a warrant for her arrest.
But there was a problem: she could not be found. A Nairobi court heard on Thursday that whenever police stormed her house, they would not find her.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Nanzushi heard that Marisiana ran out of luck on Wednesday. Her phone signal showed she was in the house but the police could not find her.
They searched for her even in the attic, to no avail. The phone signal showed she was in the house. The court heard that police then decided to open a closed cabinet under the stairs and there she was.
The investigating officer in the criminal cases against Marisiana told the magistrate that the arrest was a breakthrough “since the accused had been switching her phone on and off all this while”.
“We checked for her in the [attic] but we could not find her, only to find her in a closed cabinet under the staircase at her Buruburu residence,” the investigating officer told the court.
In the Sh4.9 million case conviction, Marisiana was found guilty of obtaining the money from Thomas Aul Ewald by pretending she was taking his sick relative abroad for treatment.
The magistrate informed Marisiana that her case had proceeded in her absence and her conviction had been secured.
“You were convicted in absentia and now you will serve a two-year jail term with an alternative fine of Sh300,000,” said the magistrate as she read her sentence.
The magistrate ordered that Marisiana begins serving the sentence immediately since her bond had been forfeited to the State.
The magistrate directed that Marisiana be presented before Senior Principal Magistrate Wandia Nyamu for directions in the Sh204 million tax evasion case.
A lawyer defending Marisiana said she had been sick and that she had lost track of the proceedings after the court went virtual during the Covid-19 pandemic.
