British Woman, 61, conned of Sh3.9m by Kenyan husband

When 61-year-old Judith Stillwell, a parish councilor, met her Kenyan husband Ovi Elias on a dating website she thought she had found her soul mate.

The two later met in person, dated and got married after three short years.

The divorced parish councilor was to later find out that she had gotten herself into a scam.

She discovered that her husband, who made frequent trips abroad for what he claimed was urgent business, had 47 other lovers in different countries across the world.

Elias told Judith that he was 62 and had come to the UK 20 years ago as a student.

He further claimed that he was a retired accountant who now owned a flat in London and was in the process of buying a property in Dubai.

“While I believed him when he said he was flying to Dubai to do property deals, I have now discovered he was actually flying all over the world meeting other women who funded his lifestyle, just like me.” she said

Elias told the other 47 women as far as the Philippines that he was a 47-year-old called Steve.

The mother of two and grandmother of one said that he was different from any man she had ever met.

Out of love, she ended up giving her husband an overall of GBP25,000 (Sh3.9 million) from her savings to fund his expenses as he travelled.

When they met in 2009, Elias moved into her three-bedroom bungalow and after they got married, she paid for a visit to Kenya to seek blessings from his family.

The 61-year-old British woman was so moved by the dilapidated state of the house his father lived in that she paid thousands to have water.

Upon their return to the UK, Judith gave her husband GBP10,000 (1.5 million) to help with the legal fees for his Dubai venture.

Elias who had said he would stay for two weeks ended up staying for 3 months.

“I should have realized something was wrong as he would say he was going there for a week and then end up staying there months.” Ms Stillwell said.

“He always came up with reasons – for example saying that there was extra legal red tape,” she added.

In February this year, he left again for what his wife believed was another trip to Dubai but two days later she discovered that he was traveling to a different country after she saw his e-ticket.

 “I was shocked because it was a ticket to Australia. He claimed he’d gone on a detour to Dubai via Australia with a business friend,” she intimated.

It wasn’t long before she received a text from one of the other 47 women in Australia.

“ She said Steve had used her laptop but not closed his emails down properly. She found a list of 47 women, including us, dotted around the world. She’d even contacted some of them – a woman in the States, a “Roz” in Tasmania, another woman in the Philippines and so on.” Ms Stillwell said.

“Apparently he met them all on dating websites and using the story about a property in Dubai, got them to pay his air fares all around the world. Then he stayed for weeks at a time living with each woman, spinning her the same line,” she added.

Judith told him to leave when he returned to their home briefly.

The police told the 61-year-old retired teacher that they were not able to do anything because Elias did not break any laws.

However, she shared the story as a warning to other women like her.