Another high-profile death, another mistress with children comes forward to claim benefits, another DNA test.
DNA samples have confirmed Matungu MP Justus Murunga is not the biological father of the son of his mistress. He did sire her daughter, test results showed.
Agnes Wangui had claimed Murunga sired both her children, a seven-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl.
Two pathologists, Dr M. Mwangi and Dr P.M. Maturi, issued the results.
Only the girl is Murunga's biological daughter.
Wangui wanted both children recognised as his heirs.
Lawyer Danstan Omari said on Monday, however, the boy could qualify as one of the MP's heirs because of provisions in the Succession Act.
He said Murunga had voluntarily assumed permanent responsibility for the child, giving the child a claim.
“By virtue of the deceased having assumed voluntary permanent responsibility, he qualifies as a child of the deceased and can claim his share in the estate of Justus Murunga as a rightful beneficiary,” Omari said.
Regarding any benefits to the mother, Omari said Murunga offered unlimited financial, emotional and psychological support to the family.
“She can therefore peg her claim to [part of]the estate of Justus Murunga as a dependent, having been maintained by the deceased prior to his death,” the lawyer said.
Omari said both children qualify as his offspring, noting he did sire the daughter.
Magistrate Peter Muholi had ordered DNA samples to be collected to determine whether the children were his.
Wangui had told the court that before his death on November 14, he always supported and maintained them.
Murunga and Wangui knew each other for seven years. Their first encounter was in 2013 when he was a supervisor at Embakasi Ranching, while she was a hawker selling snacks and beverages in Sewerage area, Ruai.
“Shortly afterward, we began a romantic relationship and out of the said union we were blessed with our first child who was born in March 2013, " Wangui said in court papers.
She said the second child was born in November 2017.
"Murunga later rented a house for me in Ruai,” the mother said.
During their relationship, the MP was living at Utawala with one of his wives, Christabel Murunga, but around May 26 he rented a house for her in Ruai, Wangui said.
She said Murunga used to pay rent and maintenance costs to her M-Pesa account through his two registered mobile numbers.
The relationship, the mistress's court documents said, started to deteriorate in 2017 when Murunga won the Matungu parliamentary seat.
“Murunga never wanted the public nor his family to learn of the existence of our two children and he even denied me his identification card for purposes of procuring birth certificates for the children,” his former lover said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
