Sheila Wairimu alias Shay Diva Africa was found guilty of motor vehicle theft by a Kitale court on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
Kitale Chief Magistrate Julius N’garng’ar determined that the socialite illegally transferred the ownership of Toyota Landcruiser V8 from her sponsor’s name to hers a day after his death.
The 30-year-old socialite was accused of accessing tycoon PJ Dodhia Kumar’s TIMs/NTSA account and transferring ownership of the vehicle to herself without following the due processes of succession.
According to records at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), Shay Diva filed a transfer of the log book by logging into the TIMs account of the deceased at 11.45 pm on April 26.
The transfer was authorised at 2pm the next day, but there were no supporting documents from the owner.
Kumar died in April 2021 aged 61. His family filed a complaint with the police after learning that Shay Diva had taken the vehicle.
The family noted that the tycoon had only given the socialite the Landcruiser on a “use and return basis” because they were in a relationship.
The socialite, in her defense, told the court that the Landcruiser was transferred to her without her knowledge and that she learned about this when she accessed her NTSA account.
However, one of the five witnesses who testified against Shay Diva told the court that the socialite used to blackmail the late tycoon.
The witness, Chirag Bhatt, a manager of a hardware shop which was owned by the late tycoon, said that the socialite used to have her way with the deceased by threatening to exposed their illicit relationship to his wife, who lives in the UK.
Bhatt said that is how Shay Diva remained with the vehicle until Kumar’s death.
The court was convinced that the sociate illegally transferred the ownership of Toyota Landcruiser thus slapped her with the guilty verdict.
Shay Diva will be sentenced on December 5 pending mitigation.
