The High Court in Nakuru has declared a 76-year-old woman and her 54-year-old niece widows of German businessman Joseph Leitmann.
Justice Hillary Chemitei, in his judgment, recognised the marriage between Mr Leitman and Susan Nyambura and her niece, Lucy Wanjiku, bringing to an end a two-decade succession battle.
Ms Nyambura was married to Mr Leitmann in the 1960s, while Ms Wanjiku was married in 1995.
The judge said the two women are both entitled to a share of property left behind by the tycoon, valued at Sh100 million. Mr Leitmann died on August 3, 2001, without a will. His estate includes a 5,178-acre parcel, several houses, a hotel, motor vehicles, boreholes, and machinery business and 2,000 shares in Ukingoni Farm Company Limited.
The decision comes as a relief for Ms Nyambura, who had been thrown out of her matrimonial home by her niece after she obtained a grant to manage the estate claiming to be the German’s only widow.
In the case that was filed in December 2001, Ms Wanjiku told the court that she married Mr Leitmann on June 30, 1995, and produced a marriage certificate to prove the same. At the time, she was 28, while Leitmann was 69.
She claimed that Ms Nyambura, her aunt, was just a house help and had no right to claim a share of the property as she was paid her salary for her contribution as a house help.
“The grant and letter of administration issued to me were not only genuine and gazetted on December 14, 2001, but also that nobody came to dispute it for more than 17 years,” Ms Wanjiku said in court papers.
In her application, she sought to be declared the legal wife and only heir to the tycoon. She also sought to have Ms Nyambura evicted from the property. She persuaded the court to issue her grants to letters of administration in 2016 and subsequently obtained eviction orders against Ms Nyambura on May 27, 2017.
Ms Nyambura challenged the orders, arguing that she is also a beneficiary. When she appeared in court in July 2021, she testified that she married Mr Leitmann under the Kikuyu customary laws sometime in the 1960s and through hard work, they both accumulated wealth.
She said she adopted her niece, Ms Wanjiku, after she discovered that she could not conceive. According to her, she raised the niece as her own child and facilitated her education.
Ms Nyambura claimed the niece betrayed her by having an affair with her husband that bore two children. “When She joined high school, she started having an intimate relationship with my husband. I did not take the rumours seriously until she got pregnant and married him.”
Ms Nyambura added that her niece moved to the United States and abandoned her husband and the children in Kenya. The husband apologised to her and brought her back to the home to help in taking care of the children before he died in 2001.
“Leitmann apologised to me after Wanjiku left. He and I were in the process of reuniting before he died,” said Ms Nyambura.
The granny explained that her niece only returned after his death with an aim of taking control of the property and evicting her. After her eviction, Ms Nyambura sought shelter in one of the single rooms that served as servant quarters.
In his judgment, the judge noted that Ms Nyambura’s evidence, supported by three other witnesses, had proved that she had entered into a marriage with Leitmann, under the Kikuyu customary law. “Evidence showed that Nyambura and Leitmann worked hard and accumulated wealth together,” the judge said.
He, on the other hand, said a marriage certificate produced by Ms Wanjiku showed that she got married to Leitmann on June 30, 1995, and was blessed with two children. “Evidence from both the petitioner and the objector were overwhelming and stand as proof that they are both widows to the deceased and in turn beneficiaries of his estate,” Mr Chemitei said.
