Man, 83, faces 30 years in jail for land grabbing

An elderly man was on Thursday fined Sh1.2 million or serve 30 years in jail by a court in Embu.

Evanson Kihumba, 83, was taken to jail Thursday afternoon because he could not immediately raise the fine.

Embu Principal Magistrate Samuel Mutai convicted Kihumba of six charges of wilfully procuring for himself a land belonging to a dead person.

While delivering the sentence, the magistrate said evidence presented in court by various prosecution witnesses proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the elderly man irregularly obtained the land, whose registration number is Gaturi/Weru/377.

The court heard had that Mr Kihumba fraudulently obtained the land belonging to Nyaga Kombuthi (deceased) on December 18, 1968 at the Embu district’s land office, while pretending that he bought it from Mr Paul Kamara, who is also not alive.

Other charges included forging land transfer forms purporting the parcel was transferred to him by Paul Kamara, swearing false oath in 2015 claiming that his land title deed had been burnt and wanted a replacement.

Mzee Kihumba was sued by Mr Silas Muriithi, the son of Kombuthi.

The complainant said his father died without a will in 1970, after which the elderly man took the land fraudulently.

The magistrate noted that the accused committed a very serious crime and he should be heavily punished.

Mr Mutai said witnesses who had been called by the prosecution implicated Kihumba without contradicting themselves.

The magistrate fined Kihumba Sh200, 000 for each count or else he languishes in prison for three decades.