Woman charged in court for conning Dutch National Ksh.2.9M in dubious surrogacy deal

A woman has been charged with defrauding a foreigner of Ksh2.9 million on pretext that she would offer surrogacy services through her fertility centre.

Winnie Warigia Maina, a director of Family Fertility and Surrogacy Agency Limited, is accused of acting jointly with others not arraigned in court by claiming she could get Dion a woman to carry his child.

The charge states that she allegedly defrauded Dion William Van Aardt, a Dutch national, of Sh2,920,045 between January 12, 2018 and February 2, 2019 through her company.

On Tuesday, a Dutch National emotionally narrated to a Nairobi court how he was conned Ksh.2.9 million to get a child through surrogacy.

Dion William Van Aardt told the court that he met Winnie Warigia Maina who promised to help him get a child.

He said that he signed a contract and paid a total of Ksh.2.9M to Winnie’s agency by the name Family Fertility and Surrogacy Agency Limited.

“They showed me a contract between me and the surrogate and another with the agency,”court heard

According to Dion the medical process to be involved appeared to be worthy and gave him the confidence to go on with the process.

He deposited his semen at Agha Khan hospital for tests and was told that they were healthy.

“I felt I could trust Winnie Maina and her agency I signed the contract on 17 January 2018,” he said

The court heard that first scan revealed that it was a boy and the victim started preparing for fatherhood.

Dion said that he bought all the necessary things required for the baby including nappies ,formula and even arranged on how he would get a househelp to assist.

However, the second scan revealed a baby girl, he was very happy and decided to name her after his mother

Months after he received a call from Winnie, only to be told that the surrogate mother and the child had died.

According to Dion he was very distressed and decided to have his parents deal with Winnie.

Upon requesting that they see the two bodies, Winnie declined and instead asked for a fee.

They got suspicious and decided to enquire from Umash funerals home where they were told they did not receive the two bodies.

Dion said that he called Aghakan about the semen and he was told that they are still intact at the facility.

It is at that point when he realised that he’s been conned and reported the matter to the police.