Sh30bn estate suit lawyer ‘threatened’

A lawyer defending a 70-year-old woman in a Sh30 billion private housing project has been threatened, a judge heard on Thursday.

Mr Ashford Mugwuku Muriuki told Commercial Division judge Jonathan Havelock that he was seeking the court’s protection after receiving threatening messages.

Mr Muriuki told the judge that he was treating the messages seriously given that some lawyers had been killed in mysterious circumstances in the recent past.

He said he feared for his life since lawyer Rose Waruinge was killed at her Nairobi home on February 10 while lawyer Antony Ngunjiri was gunned down while serving a court order at Thome Estate in Nairobi last September. (READ: Nairobi lawyer killed by gunmen)

“I do not know what will happen to me. I need the court’s protection,” Mr Muriuki said.

The lawyer is appearing for Mrs Nancy Wanja Gatabaki, who has filed a case against her husband, Dr Samuel Gatabaki, Muga Developers Ltd, Suraya Property Group and two others over the Fourways Junction Housing Project in Kiambu County.

The threat message was confirmed by lawyer Cecil Miller, who is defending Dr Gatabaki and the developers of the 100-acre property.

“I confirm that Mr Muriuki has shown me the threatening messages. They are not from my clients. They come from a person he knows,” Mr Miller told Justice Havelock.

Mr Muriuki disclosed the threats during the mention of the case to confirm compliance of Justice Mohammed Warsame’s orders regarding the subdivision of the estate.

Justice Warsame directed that Mrs Gatabaki be awarded cash and some houses worth more than Sh730 million.

Mr Miller confirmed that Mrs Gatabaki had been given Sh140 million.

However, Justice Havelock was told that negotiations had reached a deadlock.

The case will be mentioned on March 8.