The hearing of an alleged forgery of a prime plot in Ngurubani town, Mwea, has commenced at the Kerugoya Law ourts on a high note with the complainant being reprimanded by defense lawyers.
Patrick Njiru, a local trader, was put to task by Isaac Muchiri and Maina Kagio to produce any letter of allotment he was issued with, by five families who sold the property to him.
Njiru, however, told the Court all the documents related to the property would be produced at a later date by the prosecution.
The vocal Wamumu Ward Member of the County Assembly (MCA), Batista Kanga, has been jointly charged with Samson Theuri Muchiri, for the alleged offence involving a prime commercial plot in Ngurubani town in Mwea, Kirinyaga County.
The alleged offence was committed between December 1, 2012 and June 30, 2016, before he was elected to his current position in 2017.
The hearing of the matter started yesterday before Chief Magistrate, David Ithuki,
The two accused are out on Sh 20,000 cash bail, Beatrice Muthoni, is the State Counsel, prosecuting the case which was initially at the Wanguru Law Courts where the disputed plot is situated, but got transferred to Kerugoya which is a neutral ground.
Kanga had at the onset of the matter been charged alone (September 20, 2018), with six counts of forgery but the charges were later withdrawn to allow the prosecution consolidate the case with that of Muchiri which was related to the same matter.
They have been charged with the offence of forgery which stated that on diverse dates between December 1, 2012, June 30, 2016 at Wanguru township, within Kirinyaga County, jointly and with an intent to defraud, forged an allotment letter for the plot Number Wanguru township/160, purporting it to be a genuine document issued by the Commissioner of Lands, Nairobi, a fact they knew to be false.
Njiru who was listed as the first prosecution witness in the case alongside some five families who co-owned the prime plot before selling to the trader, after which Kanga and his co-accused also claimed its ownership was stood down due to time but the hearing resumes this afternoon.
By Irungu Mwangi
