Man conned Sh50,000 in fake land deal risks losing his property too

NYERI COUNTY: When Peter Karuiru Gachira set out to acquire a piece of land in 2008, he did not know the process would lead to a protracted court battle and turn his close friend into a foe. Karuiru, now at the risk of losing his land, has been battling a court case filed against him by a friend who also signed the sale agreement as his witness.

It all started on February 2008 when Karuiru, after expressing his need to buy land, was approached by Leonard Wanjohi, a businessman, who informed him about a three-acre piece of land on sale at Aguthi in Naromoru, Nyeri County.

At that time, Karuiru and Wanjohi were residing and conducting businesses in Karatina. Since they had known each other for more than five years, Karuiru did not get suspicious when Wanjohi said the land seller was his friend.

Two days prior to signing the sale agreement, Karuiru and his wife went to see the land in the company of Wanjohi. Satisfied that the land was good, Karuiru entered into a sale agreement with one Raphael Waweru Mugo on February 19, 2008 and paid a deposit of Sh50,000. “I wanted the sale agreement drawn by my advocate, but they (members of the other party) declined. Instead, they insisted we go to their advocate Kamwenji (of Kamwenji and Co Advocates),” reads Karuiru’s written defence in a case filed two years later by Wanjohi. But Wanjohi, in the papers he filed before court, where he sued Karuiru and the Attorney General for illegal confinement and malicious prosecution after the deal went wrong, said while they wanted their photos attached to the agreement, Karuiru did not.

The sale agreement indicates other signatories as Wanjohi, Karuiru’s wife Mary Gathoni and Simon Kariuki Ngatia, a broker, who accompanied the land’s vendor. It also bears the stamp of Wanderi Muthigani, an advocate based in Karatina. The purchase price of the land was Sh360,000 and the remaining Sh310,000 was to be paid upon the transfer of the land.

However, that was not to happen because the purported land owner vanished after receiving the deposit. Unknown to Karuiru, the ‘land owner’ was a conman who had faked a national identity card and the land’s title deed. “The ID card of Raphael tallied with the one on the search (Certificate of Official Search), and the title deed that I was shown,” states Karuiru’s written defense.

A day after the sale agreement was signed, Karuiru unsuspectingly made plans to clear the remaining Sh310,000. He and his wife withdrew the money from K-Rep Bank, Nyeri branch, on February 20 and headed to Naromoru in the company of Wanjohi.

Upon reaching Naromoru, Karuiru tried in vain to get hold of Waweru, but he was not reachable on his mobile phone. Karuiru became more alarmed when the consent form they presented to the District Officer at Naromoru turned out fake.

It was when the DO issued a peremptory order demanding to see the author of the consent form that Karuiru turned to Wanjohi, who endorsed the seller to him, for help. On March 4, 2008, Karuiru received a call from the DO’s office informing him that the real owner of the land in question had presented himself.

When he and Wanjohi arrived at the DO’s office the next day, Karuiru was shocked to find out that the genuine land owner was not the person he had given the Sh50,000, although he bore the name Raphael Waweru Mugo.

Then Naromoru Police Station OCS was called and Karuiru, Wanjohi, Raphael, and his brother who had accompanied him, recorded statements. In the occurrence book, the police erroneously recorded the complainant’s name as Peter Kariuki Gachira instead of Peter Karuiru Gachira.

Shortly after the statements were recorded, the OCS ordered the arrest of Wanjohi who was later charged at Nanyuki law courts with obtaining money by false pretense. He was, however, acquitted on March 30, 2010, under section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code after witnesses repeatedly failed to appear in court to testify.

Unlawful arrest

The prosecution told the court it could not bond the witnesses because the addresses on their statements were vague, thus making it difficult to trace them. Karuiru said he was unaware of an ongoing case against Wanjohi and that he was never summoned to testify.

He also denied reporting Wanjohi as the person who defrauded him money. In his ruling, Nanyuki Resident Magistrate Elijah Gichangi said Wanjohi had no case to answer because no evidence had been adduced against him.

A few months after his acquittal, Wanjohi sued Karuiru and the AG for unlawful arrest, illegal confinement and malicious prosecution. He refuted accusations that he conspired to swindle Karuiru his hard earned money. The case continued for almost three years and on March 1, 2013, Wanjohi was awarded Sh300,000 general damages by Nyeri Chief Magistrate Wilbroda Juma. Thereafter, he filed an application for execution by way of attachment and sale by public auction of land belonging to Karuiru.

Karuiru contested the ruling at the High Court and filed a Memorandum of Appeal on March 26, last year. He asked the court to allow him offer other means of security besides his land.

On July 7, Justice James Wakiaga of the High Court granted him his request on condition that the Sh300,000 general damages plus costs and interests amounting to Sh108,208 be deposited within 21 days into a joint interest earning account of the advocates for both parties.

The 21-day duration lapsed on July 28 without the money having been deposited as ordered. Karuiru now risks losing his land or being committed to civil jail, with the thought of how he was conned still disturbing him.