Norah Atieno accused of derailing DNA test in inheritance battle

One of the women battling to prove marriage to  the late Nakuru tycoon Eliakim Washington Olweny has been accused of derailing a DNA test to prove her maternity to a child she allegedly sired with him.

Ms Norah Atieno, who alongside Ms Ann Wanjiru are battling for entitlement to the share of Mr Olweny’s vast wealth running into hundreds of millions after claiming to be his second and third widows respectively, is alleged to be reluctant to comply with the orders for DNA test.

Appearing before Justice Teresia Matheka, Mr Olweny’s widow Phelesia Akoth through her lawyers lamented that Ms Atieno has refused to cooperate and comply with the orders issued by the court on August 16.

In the orders, the court had directed Ms Atieno to present herself together with her 22-year-old son Kevin Odhiambo for their samples to be extracted for analysis.

The test expenses, which were to be catered for by the woman, were meant to prove whether she is the biological mother to the 22-year-old.

The orders followed a challenge by Ms Akoth to have Ms Atieno prove that she bore the child with Mr Olweny.

During cross examination on June 21, 2021, Ms Akoth’s lawyer had challenged Ms Atieno to undergo a test to prove that Odhiambo was her son, a challenge that she readily accepted.

The lawyers raised the DNA issue after Ms Atieno failed to provide crucial details regarding the birth of Odhiambo, including the exact date and month of his birth.

She had claimed that the son was born in late 1999, but was not sure of the exact date.

She also gave contradicting information on the place of birth, where she at one point claimed to be at Avenue Hospital in Nairobi only to change later claiming to have delivered by the roadside in Uplands while on her way to Nairobi.

She also could not explain where her son's birth was registered after giving birth.

Following the conflicting information, the court also issued summons against the Registrar Of Births to appear before court to shed light on the birth documents before court.

However, lawyers Wilfried Lusi and Diana Gichuru told the court that Ms Atieno had failed to present herself as earlier directed and that the test was yet to be conducted.

“We undertook to do the DNA test and we were even willing to pay for it. However, there was very little cooperation from the objector (Ms Atieno),” said Mr Lusi.

Ms Akoth requested the court to issue orders compelling Ms Atieno to present herself for the test on Thursday.

However, Ms Atieno, through her lawyer, declined to give reasons for not complying with the orders but instead requested for more time to respond to the issue.

Justice Matheka directed that the matter be mentioned on November 15.

The petitions for grant of administration were filed in 2017 by Ms Akoth and her sons Timothy and Edwin Olweny after the death of Mr Olweny.

Ms Atieno and Ms Wanjiru, however, filed their objections accusing the petitioners of sidelining them in the matter.

The two claimed to be widows of Mr Olweny after having been married to him through customary marriages.