Tob Cohen's widow gets respite in property fight with in-laws
Sarah Wairimu Cohen during an interview at her Njigari home in Nyeri county on June 17, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Court stops Mr Cohen and his sister Gabriel Hannah Van Straten from utilising the grant to deal in any manner with their brother’s property.
- Property in contention includes the matrimonial home, shares at Tobs Limited, bank balances at Rabo Bank Amstelveen, The Netherlands, NIC bank and others in the name of Tobs Limited.
The widow of Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen, Ms Sarah Wairimu, has won the first round of a court battle against her estranged in-laws over control of the multi-million-shilling estate that was owned by her husband.
This is after the High Court in Nairobi suspended a grant of letters of the estate administration given to Ms Wairimu’s brother-in-law, Mr Bernard Cohen, on May 18, 2021, based on Cohen’s last written will.
Justice Mugure Thande also stopped Mr Cohen and his sister Gabriel Hannah Van Straten from utilising the grant to deal in any manner with their brother’s property.
According to the court papers, the property includes the matrimonial home, shares at Tobs Limited, bank balances at Rabo Bank Amstelveen, The Netherlands, NIC bank and others in the name of Tobs Limited.
Other properties are Cohen's movable assets, including his motor vehicle.
The judge also ordered Nairobi-based lawyer Chege Kirundi to surrender in court Cohen’s original written will, which Ms Wairimu claims is a fake.
On Wednesday, she told court that she has the original will. The particulars of the two documents are not similar, and now the court has been tasked with finding out which is valid.
In the will held by Mr Kirundi, the widow was left nothing by her husband. The document is dated April 30, 2019, while the one in possession of Ms Wairimu is dated June 8, 2018.
Sole surviving spouse
The judge made the directions following an application by Ms Wairimu, who protested that she was not furnished with a copy of the petition filed by her brother-in-law, and that there was collusion between her husband’s siblings and third parties.
Her advocates argued that the court proceedings that led to the issuance of the grant letters to Mr Cohen were defective in substance, in that while she had a pending application seeking issuance of Cohen’s death certificate, his brother filed the case without presenting the document.
In the court papers she is described as the sole surviving spouse of Cohen, who was killed in Nairobi on an unknown date between July 20 and September 13, 2019.
At the same time, Cohen’s relatives yesterday told court that they will file a case seeking to have the pleadings lodged by Ms Wairimu struck out of court.
They are disputing Ms Wairimu’s use of the name Cohen in her identification.
“There has been a consistent misrepresentation of Sarah Wairimu Kamotho Cohen. She does not have documentation with the name Cohen,” said lawyer Shadrack Wambui, for Ms Van Straten.
He described Ms Wairimu as “a stranger in court” due to her identification.
“In Tob’s lifetime she did not use that name and cannot use it posthumous. It is deliberate confusion that is meant to obscure the mind of court when she uses the name and is a suspect and an accused person in a criminal case,” said the lawyer.
Cohen's last will
But Ms Wairimu, through lawyer Phillip Murgor, said there is no dispute that she was the sole spouse of the businessman.
At the centre of the property dispute is Cohen's last will, which Ms Wairimu contests and claims is fake and a forgery.
To support her allegation, Ms Wairimu says she submitted the will together with samples of known signatures and initials of Cohen to a document examiner known as Emmanuel Kenga, a retired commissioner of police, for comparison and forensic examination.
"... there were no similarities between the signatures on the questioned will and the known signatures of Tob," says Ms Wairimu.
The will bequeathed the couple's matrimonial property situated in Lower Kabete to Ms Van Straten (50 per cent), Seth Van Straten (25 per cent) and Sharon Van Tienhoven Cohen (25 per cent). The property is said to be valued at more than Sh400 million.
"She is a co-owner of the jointly owned matrimonial property and, as a surviving spouse, has an overriding life interest over the Tob's share in the matrimonial property as his sole surviving spouse," says Kimani & Michuki Advocates, Ms Wairimu’s lawyers.
The will also bequeathed Cohen's shares at Tobs Ltd, all the bank balances at Rabo Bank, NIC bank and others in the name of Tobs Ltd to his sister. She was also given all Cohen's movable assets, including his vehicle.
The judge directed both parties to file their pleadings, while the case will be heard on June 27 and 28, 2022.
