A woman who fraudulently obtained a piece of land from her mentally ill husband has lost her bid to retain it after the Environment and Land court declared her title deed illegal, null and void.
Justice Lucy Mbugua ruled that MKN, who is the stepson to the defendant NMN, was the proper person to manage the estate of his father, PNK, 60, who is still mentally ill.
“A declaration is hereby issued to the effect that the transfer of title in Ruiru East on December 4, 2003 to the defendant was illegal, null and void," the judge said.
She further issued a cancellation order on entry on the title transferring the land to NMN, the defendant.
MKN sued the stepmother on behalf of his father, accusing her of taking advantage of his father’s illness to transfer the land to her name.
He told court that his mother was married to his father in 1977 but separated in 1992 and went to America. In 1998, he also went to the US where his mother was.
However his mother learnt that the land which was in her husband’s name had been transferred to the defendant in 2003, prompting her to file a suit in 2012 for cancellation of the transfer.
He said his mother died in 2014 after giving her testimony in court where he obtained letters of administration for the estate. He also became the guardian of his father via a court order of 2015.
The stepmother however denied the allegations and contended that she was the registered owner of the suit land having acquired the same from her husband.
MKN’s case was that his father PNK had been suffering from mental illness since 1994 and had been undergoing treatment.
He stated that the alleged transfer of the suit property to the defendant was null and void since his father lacked the capacity to contract by virtue of his illness.
He further testified that his father had never married the defendant under customary law or any other law and that the suit property was family land. He contended that he is now the person appointed to manage the properties of his father.
The defendant testified that she is married to PNK since 1992 under Kikuyu customary law. She was aware that he was hospitalized at a mental facility but stated that the mental illness was found to be a substance induced disorder for which he was treated and recovered.
She further testified that PNK had willingly transferred the property to her as his wife and he personally signed the transfer forms.
The judge ruled that,“I hold the opinion that this court is not the proper forum to determine whether the defendant is a lawful wife of PNK or not in view of the fact that the jurisdiction of this court is clearly spelt out in Article 162 (2) (b) of the Constitution and section 13 of the Environment and Land Court Act. I will therefore confine the issue for determination to the legality of the transfer of the land”.
The court considered the document from hospital which confirmed that PNK was a psychiatric patient on follow up treatment in both Maragua district hospital and Mathare hospital.
