Three-Year Hideout In Home Foils Police, But Lands Woman Behind Bars.

Claire Marisiana Odimwa had created a hideout bunker under the stairs in her Buruburu house to evade the authorities.

She was facing a Sh204 million tax evasion case and a separate Sh4.9 million fraud case, but had not appeared in court since 2019.

Despite being found guilty in the fraud case, the sentence could not be handed to her as she was nowhere to be found.

Her bond was cancelled and a warrant for her arrest was issued in 2020.

Whenever the police stormed her house, they could search but not find her.

On Wednesday, however, Ms Marisiana was outwitted as the police finally found her.

Her phone signal showed she was in the house, but they couldn’t locate her until they searched a closed cabinet under the stairs and found her there.

Ms Marisiana had been found guilty in absentia and was sentenced to a two-year jail term with an alternative fine of Sh300,000.

The magistrate ordered that she begin serving the sentence immediately since her bond had been forfeited to the State.

The conviction had been handed down in the Sh4.9 million case, but the magistrate directed that she be presented before another senior principal magistrate for directions in the Sh204 million tax case.

A lawyer defending Ms Marisiana said she had been sick and had lost track of the proceedings after the court went virtual during the Covid-19 pandemic.