A Nakuru court has summoned the Nakuru Lands Registrar and the Registrar of Persons in a case where a 70-year-old woman is charged with forcefully retaining a prime piece of land.
Pauline Muthoni Njoroge who has two copies of national identity cards with two completely different sets of names is also charged with forgery.
The two government officers are expected to testify on the issue of land ownership and double issuance of identification documents.
During the first hearing, Francis Maina Kimotho narrated how the woman used one of her identification cards to process his late father’s documents.
He said it was the same ID under the name of Irene Nyambura Kimotho that she used to keep his father’s body at a private mortuary following his death in 2019.
Kimotho said the woman was not formally known to him and only learnt about her existence when his father died.
Kimotho claimed the woman took ownership of his piece of land in the Mwariki area of Nakuru City.
“My father, John Kimotho Kirumba was living on my land. I used to visit him often and at no time did I find Pauline Muthoni Njoroge until after his death,” he said.
In the case, Pauline Muthoni Njoroge also known as Irene Nyambura Kimotho is charged that on June 2010, at the Municipality National Registration Office in Nakuru East Sub-County, she willfully procured a Kenya National Identity Card by falsely pretending that she was Irene Nyambura Kimotho.
She is facing a second count that on September 13, 2019, in the Mwariki area in Nakuru East Sub-County, she held possession of a piece of land in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace against Francis Maina Kimotho.
Kimotho said he only learnt about the double identity on September 30, 2020, when he went to the area chief’s office to commence talks on having the woman vacate his land.
He told the court that he acquired the land in 2012 and got its title deed the following year.
Kimotho said the family also held a clan meeting on October 20, 2021, and decided that Muthoni should vacate the land because she was not a member of the clan.
“She is not a member of the can neither is she recognised by it but she has remained put on my land which compelled me to file this suit,” he said.
Kimotho showed the court an M-Pesa statement indicating that Muthoni continued to illegally use his father’s line to borrow loans on different platforms long after he was dead.
During cross-examinations, he said he was not aware that Muthoni was his father’s wife.
Hearing resumes on February 8, 2024.