A 72-year-old woman has been convicted over a fraudulent land scheme involving multiple parcels in Ruiru East, Kiambu County, in one of two separate land fraud cases concluded at the Milimani Law Courts.
In a statement on Wednesday, August 5, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Teresia Wanjiku Wainaina was found guilty of multiple counts of forgery, uttering false documents and forcible detainer after investigations established that she fraudulently acquired land belonging to genuine owners.
According to the DCI, the affected parcels had been allocated to the rightful owners by Nyakinyua Investment Company Limited before they were allegedly invaded and fenced off by the convict, who later produced forged ownership documents.
72-year-old Teresia Wanjiku Wainaina. Photo: Courtesy.
The case originated from a complaint lodged by advocates representing 10 complainants, who reported that land legally allocated to them had been fraudulently taken over.
Detectives established that Wainaina forged title deeds and green cards for three parcels of land before presenting the fake documents as genuine during investigations.
The DCI said the case initially involved more than 40 charges but was split into three separate files following a court directive to enable the accused to properly respond to the charges.
The remaining two cases are still pending before the court.
During the trial, a forensic document examiner testified that the questioned title documents and signatures were not authentic and had not been prepared by the legitimate officials at the Land Registry.
Prosecution witnesses also produced receipts and share certificates issued by Nyakinyua Investment Company Limited to demonstrate their lawful ownership and narrated how they later discovered their properties had been fraudulently occupied.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Dolphina Alego convicted Wainaina on all 13 counts before imposing fines ranging between KSh20,000 and KSh30,000 for each count. In default of payment, she will serve prison terms of between one and two years.
In a separate judgment delivered by the same court on August 4, another suspect, Reuben Yegon, was convicted on five counts related to a fraudulent land sale in Ngong.
The DCI said Yegon illegally sold a parcel of land created through a fraudulent subdivision, defrauding a couple of KSh1.9 million.
Investigations revealed that the victims purchased land parcel **Ngong/Ngong/9748** after paying the full purchase price and were subsequently issued with a title deed in January 2021.
However, another individual later emerged claiming ownership of the land, prompting the couple to report the matter to investigators.
Further investigations established that the land had been fraudulently subdivided from the original parcel, Ngong/Ngong/1212, whose ownership belonged to the complainant who challenged the title.
Following investigations, the case file was forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), which approved charges against Yegon.
He was arrested on November 15, 2022, and later charged with obtaining money by false pretences, obtaining land registration by false pretences, forgery, making a false document and uttering a false document.
Chief Magistrate Dolphina Alego convicted Yegon on all five counts and sentenced him to pay a cumulative fine of KSh210,000.
In default, he will serve two years’ imprisonment on each count, with the sentences running concurrently.
