Court convicts 79-year-old farmer for forgery

A 79-year-old farmer has been convicted by a court for fraudulently forging a title deed belonging to Kenya African Othaya Bus Union (Kaobu).

John Wagura Ikiki, who appeared before senior principal magistrate Philip Mutua today, was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy, forgery and obtaining land registration number by false pretence.

The particulars of the case were that on March 14 2012, jointly with others, he conspired to defraud Kaobu of its land registered as Nyeri Municipality Block 11/26, by falsely registering it as his property.

Ikiki was further charged with forging a certificate of lease, purporting it to be genuine, issued and signed by the then Land Registrar John Gichuki.

In its ruling, the court found that without conspiring with others in the Land registry, Ikiki would not have been able to claim ownership of the land.

“Circumstances leading to the issuance of the title as well as signature appended by Gichuki as indicated were not genuine,” Mutua ruled.