A court has allowed retired PCEA cleric Timothy Njoya to evict a woman who claims to be his stepmother from a four-acre parcel of land owned by his father in Mukurweini, Nyeri County.
Nyeri Senior Principal Magistrate Phillip Mutua Monday refused to declare Mary Wangui Maina as the proprietor of the land and instead ruled that she is a trespasser.
Mr Mutua said Ms Maina should voluntarily vacate the land within 30 days, failure to which an eviction order will be issued and she will bear the cost of the eviction.
Both Rev Njoya and Ms Maina have since 2005 been engaging in a protracted court battle over the ownership of the land.
The court also awarded the Reve Njoya Sh100,000 as nominal general damages for trespass.
In his ruling the magistrate said Ms Maina cannot be declared the owner of the land on grounds of adverse possession.
Rev Njoya’s efforts to sell the land to Thika Coffee Mills in 2005 had been thwarted after Ms Maina’s opposed the transfer.
[Article source: Daily Nation, by Joseph Wangui]
