A court in Tamu, Muhoroni, has issued a warrant of arrest for a woman facing land fraud charges after she failed to appear for the hearing of her case.
Senior Principal Magistrate Lillian Kiniale issued the warrant against Rahab Obange after she did not attend court as required.
The magistrate also ordered summons to be issued to the sureties who guaranteed her bail, directing them to appear in court and explain her whereabouts.
In addition, Ms Kiniale directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the authenticity of a medical report presented by Obange to justify her absence from previous court proceedings.
The report, allegedly issued by Nyamira Sub-County Hospital, indicated that Obange had been admitted on a date she was expected to attend court.
However, the court noted that the document lacked an official stamp and appeared to contain altered dates.
Obange had been instructed to provide proper medical documentation when the matter came up for hearing on 25 March 2026, but she failed to appear.
She is facing charges of obtaining money by false pretences in connection with a disputed parcel of land that she allegedly sold to two different buyers, Susan Matoka and Evans Abondo.
The dispute has also been the subject of civil proceedings.
In an earlier ruling, Senior Principal Magistrate Amos Mokoros found that the land legally belonged to Ms Matoka, who had entered into a sale agreement with Obange before the property was later sold to Abondo.
According to court records, Obange agreed on 17 September 2021 to sell the parcel to Matoka for Sh600,000.
The agreement required a deposit of Sh120,000, with the balance to be paid later.
The court heard that Matoka had paid Sh330,500 towards the purchase price, leaving an outstanding balance of Sh269,500.
Magistrate Mokoros found that Obange had refused to accept the remaining payment, amounting to a breach of contract.
Matoka later discovered that another buyer had begun developing the land, claiming ownership.
The magistrate noted that Matoka had produced mobile money transaction records and text messages showing her willingness to complete the payment.
He also found that Abondo had failed to produce a sale agreement or other evidence supporting his claim to ownership.
The court subsequently ordered Obange to complete the sale transaction in favour of Matoka and issued a permanent injunction barring Abondo, his agents or employees from occupying or dealing with the property.
The costs of the suit were also awarded against Obange.
However, the dispute remains unresolved.
Abondo successfully challenged the lower court’s decision at the Environment and Land Court in Kisumu, where Justice Esther Asati ruled in his favour.
Matoka has since filed an appeal, seeking to overturn that judgment at the Court of Appeal.
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