New claim in Karen land dispute
What you need to know:
- Will was prepared on August 15, 1969, says lawyer.
- Claimant tells court that original owner named Barclays Bank as the executor of his will.
The original owner of the Sh8 billion Karen land whose ownership is in dispute was an investor, Mr Arnold Bradley, a judge heard on Monday.
Telesource Com Ltd, which is one of the claimants, told Justice Lucy Nyambura Gacheru that Bradley appointed Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd as the executor of the will he prepared on August 15, 1969.
Referring to evidence presented to Justice Gacheru by Barclays through its senior legal counsel, Mr Waweru Mathenge, lawyer Steve Gikera for Telesource said the will identified the beneficiaries of the estate after Bradley died on October 22, 1973.
Mr Gikera told the judge that Bradley stated in his will that four acres of the land be allocated to his daughter Annette Therese Benson.
“Bradley devised and bequeathed to his daughter Annette Therese Benson approximately four acres of the parcel of land known as L.R 3586 which she occupied at the time, together with buildings and improvements erected thereon,” Mr Gikera told the judge.
Telesource Com Ltd is contesting a case filed against it and eight others by Muchanga investments Ltd, which states through lawyer Cecil Miller that it is the bona fide owner of the land, having acquired it from the bank in 1983.
Mr Miller has told the court that Muchanga is the legal owner of the land and all other claimants are trespassers into the upmarket property.
Muchanga, which is owned by Horatius Da Gama Rose, has presented evidence to prove its ownership.
Muchanga has named eight defendants. The company is asking the court to issue orders restraining the defendants from interfering with its property.
The court has since barred the defendants and their agents from interfering with the land in dispute, pending hearing and determination of the case filed by Mr Miller.
The bank which has been enjoined in the case as an interested party says the will left by Bradley was registered in the High Court on July 24, 1974.
“The administration of Mr Bradley’s estate as set out in the will was granted to Barclays Bank International Ltd as the executor,” Mr Mathenge says in the affidavit.
The case will proceed on May 19.
