Kirima in sound mind when signing will, court told

Late tycoon Gerishon Kirima was in good health when he signed a contested will drafted by a Nairobi lawyer, the High Court heard on Tuesday.

Dr Joseph Aluoch testified that he was present when Mzee Kirima was signing the document drafted by lawyer Ambrose Rachier, and that he ascertained the deceased was in good mental and physical status.

“Mr Kirima was medically fit and of sound mind, he was not coaxed into signing any will. I tested his mental status several times by asking him his name, time, where he was and his family,” said Dr Aluoch.

He said in August 2010, he was called by the late Kirima’s two daughters to attend to their father at their Kitisuru home and upon visiting him, he recommended that he be taken to a Nairobi hospital.

Upon examining the late tycoon, he discovered that he was suffering from multiple medical complications which required specialised medication and decided to transfer him to Wellington Hospital in London.

He accompanied the patient and after his condition improved, Mr Kirima began confiding in him some of his personal information.

“It was at that time he asked me to find him a good lawyer and I suggested Mr Rachier... When the lawyer arrived, he first asked me to prepare and verify the medical condition before drafting the will,” said Dr Aluoch.

After Mr Kirima and Mr Rachier had finished drafting the will, the witness said that everything was read to him and he agreed that those was the correct position concerning his property.

He said that after being satisfied that Mr Kirima understood everything and was in good mental status, they called a British lawyer Owen Thomas Lowry to witness the signing of the will.

“I then appended my signature on the will as a witness and Mzee did the same on several pages,” he said.

He disagreed with a pathologist report that Mr Kirima died as a result of neglect when he was admitted to the London hospital.

The family Mr Kirima is entangled in a bitter dispute over his property estimated to be over Sh700 million and spread across Nairobi. Read (Kirima widow fights second will)

At the centre of the dispute are two wills— one being claimed by his third wife Teresia Wairimu as the genuine against the children of Mr Kirima’s first wife, who holds that the document the late tycoon wrote while in London is the true reflection of his last wishes.

The hearing continues.