A 25-year-old woman who allegedly set her ex-boyfriend’s house on fire, destroying Sh120,000 properties after he declined to sleep with her, was charged with arson contrary to section 332 (a) of the Penal Code.
Ms Patience Cherotich is accused of willfully and unlawfully setting fire to Mr Benjamin Obeten’s bedroom, where the property of the said amount was destroyed in TRM Drive, Kasarani, Nairobi, on August 10, 2023.
The accused person and the complainant had a love affair but broke up.
Then Ms Cherotich pleaded with Mr Obeten, a Nigerian National, to allow her to visit him at his house, and he allowed her.
However, she is said to have started causing chaos inside the house immediately after arrival. She allegedly threatened to kill Mr Obeten, prompting him to seek help from the apartment’s security guards and the accused person was forced out of the house.
But after spending hours in the cold, Mr Obeten pitied her and allowed her back into the house to shelter for the night and return to her house in the morning.
She slept on a couch at Mr Obeten’s living room but allegedly started banging the complainant’s bedroom door at around 5am demanding to be let in.
Ms Cherotich stormed into the bedroom after Mr Obeten opened the door to plead with her to stop causing chaos, and the complainant got out and went into the sitting room, leaving her alone in the bedroom.
After a few minutes, she came out and asked for cab fare, and Mr Obeten gave her Sh1,200 before she left quickly.
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A few minutes later, he learnt that the house was on fire after he saw smoke. He rushed in to find the beddings and other items on fire.
The fire had consumed the entire bed and several items before he put it off with help from neighbours.
Mr Obeten later reported the matter at the Kasarani Police station and the accused person was traced and arrested after investigations were concluded.
She denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi of the Makadara Law Courts and pleaded for lenient bail and bond terms through an advocate.
She told the court that she is a single mother of a seven-year-old boy who has been left without care after she was arrested.
The suspect was released on a bond of Sh200,000 with a surety of a similar amount and an alternative cash bail of Sh90,000.
The case will be mentioned on November 14 before hearing starts on April 12 next year.
