Woman at the centre of freedom fighter's Kubai estate row now faces forgery charges

NAIROBI, KENYA: The 18-year-old former freedom fighter's estate succession battle has taken a new twist with the woman who he allegedly left with all his property being charged with forgery.

Christina Gakuhi, a woman who is alleged to have been the wife of the late Fred Kubai and entrusted with the latter's property was Wednesday arraigned before the Chief Magistrate's court facing five counts of forgery. The charges include falsifying a hand-written will that was the source of 18 years of an epic court battle between Ms Gakuhi and the children of the former freedom fighter's other four wives.

Gakuhi, who appeared before Resident Magistrate Pamela Mugure, was also charged with making a national identity card and changing her name from Christina Gakuhi Kiragu to Christina Gakuhi Kubai with intent to deceive.

On the second count, she was charged with making a hand-written will dated January 19, 1991 and purporting it to be a genuine will written by kubai.

BIRTH CERTIFICATE

She was also expected to enter a guilty or not guilty plea for allegedly making her birth certificate and also Kubai's death certificate. The case started after Kubai's death on June 1, 1996, aged 79 years, setting off a bitter family fall-out between Gakuhi and her co-wives' children.

Justice Luka Kimaru rested the case in June, with the subject matter being the same issues that will now be determined by the magistrate's court.

Justice Kimaru was in agreement with Justice William Musyoka that indeed Gakuhi had validly inherited Kubai's property.

However, the children of Sofia Muthoni, Rebecca Wangeci, Rose-Ann Grace and Lucy Mwangi held that Gakuhi was never married to the patriarch but had only worked as a maid before she allegedly forged a will entrusting the freedom fighter's entire estate to herself.

According to the charge sheet, Gakuhi had on July 26, 1998 allegedly forged a national identity card in Nakuru County and alleged it to be issued by the national bureau of statistics.

However, Ms Gakuhi did not enter a plea to the charges as her lawyer Gibson Kamau sought to have the case deferred to a later date. He said the issues that had been placed as charges were in the judgement before the High Court and had been conclusively determined.

She was released on a Sh150,000 bond and will be expected to take a plea on October 29. Mr Kubai was jailed in 1952 alongside five other freedom fighters, among them Kenya's first President Jomo Kenyatta.

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Fred Kubai forgery