A city singer has admitted he collected Sh300,000 by claiming on Facebook that his daughter had died.
Furious friends told The Nairobian that Moses Kamunya aka Maleek lied to them that his four-year-old girl had died and he needed contributions for the hospital bill and funeral expenses.
The artiste started his campaign last week when he updated his Facebook status saying his daughter was unwell and needed prayers. Friends and fans wrote on his wall many expressing sympathy.
Two days after the post, Maleek announced that his daughter had died.
The musician then went ahead, every few hours, posting quotes from the Bible, saying how much he missed his daughter.
Friends and fans immediately met and started contributing money to offset hospital bills and to help meet funeral costs.
“We met and contributed money and even planned to attend the funeral,” says Ketty Nyaga, one of the duped friends.
On August 19, Maleek said on Facebook that the funeral would be held in Kisumu two days later and asked friends to contribute more money for the mortuary fees and other costs.
A group of his friends asked for leave from their workplaces and hired a van to go to Kisumu for the funeral.
“When we arrived in Kisumu, he wasn’t picking our calls, and we attributed this to grief. We thought he was grieving and he wasn’t able to pick calls,” Nyaga said.
The team then decided to ask for the contacts of anybody else who is related to Maleek.
Their search led them to Maleek’s former girlfriend who is the mother of the girl thought to have died.
“We called her and apologised for disturbing her peace at a very trying moment. We then asked for directions to the burial since it seemed we had gone to a wrong mortuary,” he said.
The woman was shocked and she screamed telling Maleek’s friends her daughter was alive. She said the girl was at the time even playing with her friends.
“I then sent him (Maleek) a text asking him why he lied to us. He sent a text back asking us to forgive him,” Nyaga said.
When contacted for comment, Maleek apologised for his deeds and said the devil had misled him.
“I am sorry for all I have done. I know I have lost friends and I am asking them to forgive me,” he told The Nairobian.
When asked if he will return the money he got as contributions from friends, Maleek hang up the phone and did not pick our subsequent calls.
He is known for songs such as, Sina Beef, Speaking, Kenya Burning and Who’s Gonna Help.-standardmedia.co.ke
