A 72-year-old woman has been convicted after using forged title deeds and other fake land ownership documents to fraudulently claim parcels of land in Ruiru East, Kiambu County.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 5, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) identified the woman as Teresia Wanjiku Wainaina, saying she was found guilty by the Milimani Law Courts on multiple counts of forgery, uttering false documents and forcible detainer.
According to the DCI, the disputed parcels belonged to genuine landowners who had been allocated the properties by Nyakinyua Investment Company Limited.
The investigations were initiated following a complaint by advocates acting on behalf of 10 complainants, who alleged that their parcels had been invaded and fenced off by the accused.
"The matter centred on allegations that parcels of land duly allocated to the complainants had been invaded and fenced off by the convict, who subsequently produced fraudulent documentation purporting to prove ownership," the DCI mentioned.
Read More
Detectives established that Wainaina had forged title deeds and green cards for three parcels of land before knowingly presenting them to investigators as genuine.
According to the DCI, a forensic document examiner played a key role in securing the conviction after analysing the disputed documents and signatures.
"Central to the prosecution's case was the evidence of a forensic document examiner, whose analysis of the questioned signatures and instruments established conclusively that the documents relied upon by the convict were not authentic, having been made by a different author from the legitimate signatories at the Land Registry," the agency stated.
The DCI reported more than 40 criminal charges linked to the alleged fraud. However, on the court's direction, the matter was split into three separate case files to enable the accused to adequately understand and answer the charges. The remaining two cases are still pending before the court.
Delivering the judgment, Chief Magistrate Dolphina Alego convicted Wainaina on all 13 counts in the first case file and imposed fines ranging between KSh20,000 and KSh30,000 for each count. The court ordered that she serve custodial terms of between one and two years if she defaults on payment.
The conviction comes days after detectives arrested a Nairobi-based lawyer accused of stealing KSh49.4 million entrusted to him by a client to facilitate the purchase of prime land in the city.
According to the DCI, investigations established that the client gave the lawyer money on various dates between November 16, 2023, and January 3, 2024, but he allegedly diverted the funds for his own use rather than completing the transaction.
The DCI said the lawyer is being held pending his arraignment, with prosecutors seeking to charge him with stealing by an agent under Section 283(b) of the Penal Code. The offence relates to the theft of property or money entrusted to a person for safekeeping or a specific purpose and carries a custodial sentence upon conviction.
-1785932488.png)
