Kenya’s infamous ‘eyewitness in chief’ Charles Karanja alias Dennis Ngengi Muigai has been sentenced to serve time in jail.
The once mysterious man captured public attention after he claimed to have witnessed two high profile accidents last year. It, however, did not take long for the long arm of the law to catch up with him.
Following Karanja’s arrest in November last year, police established he had a criminal record and an arrest warrant had been issued.
He had been arrested in 2015 in Diani and charged at Kwale Law Court for impersonating a Kenya Airforce officer.
He was accused that on April 12, 2015, at Ukunda Township, with intent to escape arrest after committing a traffic offence, presented himself to police Inspector Loilobon as a Captain based at Moi Airbase, Nairobi.
He was then released on a Sh50, 000 bond and expected to honour court hearings but he absconded. The bond was subsequently canceled and an arrest warrant issued.
Until his new-found fame last year, Karanja was a free criminal going around bragging that he was an influential State House operative with connections to the best government tenders and employment opportunities. So confident was he that he even tricked his wife into marriage.
After his arrest, investigators almost took the 40-year-old father of two for a mental check-up at Mathari hospital. This was after he took them to State House which he termed his home.
Read: Revealed: Eyewitness’s Real Name and How He Tricked His Wife Into Marriage
Karanja’s craving for the spotlight appears to have been his own undoing as he pleaded guilty to impersonation charges yesterday.
Kwale Resident Magistrate Mr Patrick Wambugu sentenced him to one-and-a-half years in jail without the option of a fine.
Karanja will serve his jail term at Kwale GK Prison.
