By Collins Wanzallah
A South African national was arraigned at the Kibera court on Monday for allegedly failing to pay a hotel bill of Sh750,000 contrary to the law. Groenewald Christoffel Petrus was arraigned before Senior Principal Magistrate Samson Temu when the matter came up for hearing. He has so far denied the charges and is out on bond.
The court heard that the accused person had been promising to sort the matter out of court on different occasions but failed to fulfil. Yesterday, Senior Principal Magistrate Samson Temu advised him to reach out to the complainant and settle the matter before the next hearing date. As for the court records, his lawyer in the last court sessions told the court that he was ready to settle the matter out of court by paying the said amount, which he has yet to do. According to the charge sheet, the accused person committed the offence between December 2023 and 2024 alongside others, not before the court in Parklands within Nairobi County.
According to a police report, Petrus allegedly walked into the Shayola investment hotel in Parklands and claimed that he was a long-term investor. He is said to have been there for months and accumulated a total bill of Sh759,920 and failed to pay. He, however, failed to pay, and after severally promising to pay and later failing, the matter was reported to the police and later arraigned. The magistrate directed that they proceed on September 9.
