BY SAM ALFAN.
Former LAikipia East Member of Parliament Anthony Mutahi Kimaru has been acquitted of charges of stealing a parcel of land in Nanyuki Town.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Bernard Ochoi acquitted Kimaru stating that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against the former MP.
Kimaru had been charged with stealing title Deed for L. R No.10422/13 for a parcel of land in Nanyuki Township valued at Sh18.5 million.
The land is alleged to be the property George Odinga Oraro and David Morton Silverstein.
“I hereby acquit the accused person under section 215 of the criminal procedure code since the prosecution has failed to prove the charges before this court,” ruled trial court magistrate Ochoi.
The court ruled prosecution failed to prove any of the five counts the former MP was facing.
He added that the ingredients of the stealing count could not be proved because the said title Deed did not exist then.
Magistrate Ochoi said that when senior counsel George Oraro testified he told the court he did not report the matter to the police because the dispute on the ownership had not been determined by the Environment and Land court meaning the title didn’t exist then.
The law firm was the executors of the estate of the late Livia Lepeor Trengh, an offence he allegedly committed on August 5, 2016 at the Ministry of Lands, Headquarters in Nairobi.
Mutahi was accused of willfully and unlawfully conspiring to procure the registration of the said parcel of land in his name, without the authority of the said executors.
The court was informed that he committed the offence on or before the 5th day of September 2016 at Ministry of Lands Ardhi House in Nairobi County, jointly with others not before court.
The charges stated that the intended to defraud George Oraro & David Morton Silverstein the executors of the estate of the late Livia Lepoer Trench of the parcel of land.
It was alleged that they claimed that the land was lawfully transferred to him by the executors. The investigating officer said the consent by accused person claiming executors authorised him to buy the property was obtained fraudulently.
He was also accused of making a fraudulent sale agreement, an offence he allegedly committed on August 3, 2009 at unknown place in Kenya, jointly with others not before the court.
