DP Gachagua claims land man behind 'catfish' account in hot water
Silvance Adongo Abeta (centre) ran the Twitter account that posed as a woman with the user name @WanjikuHSC, complete with an unknow woman's profile photo.
What you need to know:
- Abeta has resorted to crowdfunding on Twitter, the platform where he catfished users for years, in hopes of making bail.
A man who falsely and sensationally claimed that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was involved in a plot to harm a legislator is now seeking financial support from the public for his legal defence.
Silvance Adongo Abeta made the unsubstantiated claim on September 3 this year on X, formerly known as Twitter, using the handle @WanjikuHSC.
Many of the account's followers believed the person behind it to be a woman, until legal troubles forced Mr Abeta to reveal that he was the one behind the account passing as Wanjiku, a practice commonly known as catfishing.
Silvance Adongo Abeta ran the Twitter account that posed as a woman with the user name @WanjikuHSC, complete with an unknow woman's profile photo.
Abeta has resorted to crowdfunding on Twitter, the platform where he catfished users for years, in order to make bail.
"I have been transferred to Industrial Area remand. Please bail me out by sending your contributions to my lawyer," he said in an update Wednesday.
His lawyer is seeking his release, arguing that the police have not provided any compelling reasons for his continued detention.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) launched an investigation into the matter not too long after he posted the tweet touching on the DP. The probe culminated in his recent arrest.
According to an affidavit signed by a senior officer based at the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road, he is described as “a notorious cyberbully who operates a parody Twitter account.”
The affidavit further revealed that Abeta had been using this parody account to disseminate false information and engage in cyberbullying against various individuals.
Police said that one a device used to log into the Twitter account was found in Abeta’s possession at the time of his arrest.
The case is still under investigation, and Abeta awaits legal proceedings for the charges against him.
