Former MP Ndung'u Gethenji acquitted in assault case
Former Tetu MP James Ndung'u Gethenji was acquitted in an assault case on January 6, 2022.
The developer of the Sh20 billion Kihingo Estate in Nairobi, Mr James Ndung’u Gethenji, is a free man after a court exonerated him in an assault case.
Acquitting Mr Gethenji, a former MP for Tetu and the chairman of Kihingo Village Waridi Gardens Management Ltd, Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku said the case was sparked by an inheritance dispute with his elder brother Gitahi Gethenji.
Ms Mutuku noted that the ownership dispute involving the multibillion-shilling estate developed by Ndung’u Gethenji in 2017 is the subject of several High Court matters that had been brought to her attention.
Mr Gethenji, who was represented by lawyers Ishmael Nyaribo and Willis Otieno, had denied assaulting businessman Kishor Varsani at Kihingo Estate.
The magistrate said that as a result of the sharp differences between the brothers, police waded into the dispute irregularly and charged Ndung’u Gethenji without tangible evidence.
“The prosecution has failed to meet the legal threshold in the case against Mr Gethenji and six others,” Ms Mutuku ruled.
Evidence from witnesses, she said, was contradictory and did not point at any of the seven accused persons.
Assaulting him
Ms Mutuku said the complainant, Mr Varsani, said he was not assaulted by Mr Gethenji and Chacha Mabanga, a director of Kihingo.
“Gethenji and Mabanga were not among the six men who accosted Varsani on July 2, 2019 at around 3.45pm, assaulting him and tearing his pullover valued at Sh1,000,” Ms Mutuku noted.
She acquitted Mr Gethenji and his co-accused of assaulting Mr Varsani and lawyer Prof George Wajackoya.
In his testimony, Mr Varsani claimed hirelings rained blows and kicks on him and chased away four masons who were renovating his Sh58 million house, which he bought in 2011.
“After examining all the evidence tendered in this case by the prosecution, I find that there is no evidence to warrant this court to call upon the accused to defend themselves. I hereby acquit them under Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” Ms Mutuku ruled.
Mr Ndung’u Gethenji developed 55 palatial houses in the upmarket Kitisuru area with an Sh800 million loan from Commercial Bank of Africa, which has since merged with NIC Bank.
