By C, KNA
The Siaya High Court on Tuesday heard testimony from M-Pesa agent, Anthony Gitonga, who recounted details of an early-morning cash withdrawal made at his kiosk in Kisumu on 19 October 2024.
Gitonga, who operated the outlet within the city’s central area, told the court that he arrived for work shortly before 6:00 a.m. and within minutes, a customer approached his counter seeking to withdraw money.
Willis Ayieko, who at the time of his death was the Manager at Wells Fargo went missing on October 18, 2024. After five days of uncertainty, his body was discovered in a shallow stream near the Siaya-Kakamega County border.
Investigations revealed that Willis Ayieko’s mobile phone and identity card were used in a transaction in Kisumu while his whereabouts were still unknown, a probe that led them to the shop that was operated by Gitonga.
Gitonga testified before Justice David Kemei of Siaya High court, described the person who made the transaction as a middle-aged and dressed in a blue jacket and spectacles, arrived at exactly 6:05 a.m. and requested a withdrawal of Sh45,000.
He said he processed the transaction after the customer presented a national ID card bearing the name Willis Ayieko.
According to the witness, the transaction proceeded smoothly and the customer left shortly afterward.
The court heard that the same man returned four minutes later, at 6:09 a.m., and requested an additional withdrawal of Sh30,000.
Gitonga said the man used the same national ID card for verification, and he again completed the process.
He explained that while two close-together withdrawals were not common, they were not unusual enough at the time to raise suspicion.
Gitonga further testified that the customer returned to the shop the following day. However, he was not present during that visit, and the man was served by his colleague who was on shift that morning. He said, he was informed about the follow-up visit afterward when reviewing events with the coworker.
The prosecution presented CCTV footage captured from Gitonga’s shop on the morning of the transactions, aiming to demonstrate that the person at the counter was the same individual who used the national ID and mobile phone belonging to the late Willis Ayieko.
The footage, shown in court, depicted a man approaching the counter and interacting with the agent during both withdrawals.
Prosecutors told the court that the recordings were crucial in establishing that someone other than the deceased was in possession of his identification documents and phone at a time when Ayieko’s whereabouts were unknown.
The footage, they said, helped place a timeline on the use of the deceased’s credentials.
When asked to identify the person seen in the CCTV footage from among the three suspects in the dock, Gitonga told the court he could not recognize any of them as the customer who visited his shop that morning.
He said that although he had a clear view of the man’s face both during the interaction and in the footage, none of the suspects resembled him.
The next hearing has been scheduled to take place at the Siaya High Court on 23rd February 2026.