Re Estate of Agnes Njeri Gachucha (deceased) George Muchiri Chege & 1 other v Paul Kirigwi Kamau

REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MURANG’A SUCCESSION CAUSE NO. 252 OF 2015 RE ESTATE OF AGNES NJERI GACHUCHA (DECEASED) GEORGE MUCHIRI CHEGE............1ST APPLICANT JIDRAPH MURIGI GITAU...............2ND APPLICANT VERSUS PAUL KIRIGWI KAMAU....................RESPONDENT RULING 1. Agnes Njeri Gachucha (hereafter the deceased) died intestate on 3rd March 1998. A grant of letters of administration was issued by the Resident Magistrates Court at Thika on 3rd January 2013. The grant was confirmed on 24th January 2014. 2. That grant was made to Paul Kirigwi Kamau (hereafter the respondent) who claimed to be her son. The only other beneficiaries disclosed were two daughters: Jane Wambui Kirigwi; and, Mary Wanjiku Macharia. 3. The only asset seems to be land known as Kakuzi/Kirimiri/Block 9/479 (hereafter the suit property). Under the confirmed grant the property was to be shared between the respondent and his two “sisters” named above. 4. The applicants aver that the grant was obtained by fraud. They filed summons for revocation of the grant on 14 th April 2014 at the High Court. The pith of the objection is that the petitioner concealed the fact that the applicants bought the suit land from the deceased long before her death. They also contend that the petitioner misled the court he was a son of the deceased. They aver that he omitted the biological son known as Ngugi Nyoike; and, that he used forged letters from the area chief to obtain the grant. 5. I recorded viva voce evidence. The respondent was served but failed to appear. An affidavit of service sworn by Amos Kanoga, a process server, was filed on 3rd June 2019. 6. From the evidence of Jidraph Murigi (PW1) and documents produced in court the following facts emerge: By a written sale agreement dated 6th October 1990 (exhibit 1), the deceased sold one acre of the suit property to the 1 st applicant. The consideration was Kshs 11,000. The 1st applicant paid Kshs 10,500 and was granted possession. He has developed the land and built a permanent house on it. 7. There is another written sale agreement for one acre to the 2 nd applicant dated 11th January 1997. He has put up a stone house on the land. He took possession before the death of the deceased. 8. Although the parties appeared before the Land Control Board, the transfer could not be completed because the land had not been subdivided between the joint proprietors. 9. I thus readily find that the two applicants became creditors of the estate which fact was not disclosed in the petition before the lower court. 10. But there is another matter: The search annexed to the summons shows that the suit property measures approximately 1.613 hectares. It is registered jointly between the deceased and another person, Margaret Wangui Mwangi. That fact was also not disclosed. 11. It would appear that the respondent was a son in law of the deceased but he projected himself as the biological son. Furthermore there is a letter from the Assistant Chief Gituamba Sub-location dated 18 th January 2016 (exhibit 2). He denies the authenticity of an earlier letter from his office attached to the application for letters of administration by the respondent.

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