Three Will changes, nothing for Sarah: Cohen lawyer's revelations in court

By  Richard Munguti

Correspondent

Nation Media Group

The late Tob Cohen's lawyer, Geoffrey Chege Kirundi, has told the High Court in Kibera that he prepared three different Wills for the former Dutch tycoon, the last of which left nothing to his Kenyan wife, Sarah Wairimu Kamotho, or her daughter.

Mr Kirundi, the 26th witness in the murder case against Ms Wairimu, testified before Justice Diana Kavedza. She has denied murdering Mr Cohen on the night of July 19/20, 2019, at their lower Kabete home.

Mr Kirundi, who has been in legal practice for 42 years, said Cohen came to his chambers and asked him to prepare his last Will.

In the first Will, Mr Cohen left his estate to Ms Wairimu and her daughter, he said. Mr Cohen later asked him to amend it and remove the daughter's name. In the third and last will, which Mr Kirundi read at his Bruce House Chambers in the presence of the deceased's relatives and lawyers Danstan Omari and Cliff Ombeta, Cohen "had not apportioned any of his vast wealth to Sarah and her daughter".

Instead, he allocated his wealth, including their palatial city residence, to his sister Gabriella and her son, the lawyer told the court.

Mr Kirundi said he opened and read the will after Mr Cohen's burial under Jewish rites at a city cemetery.

He also told the court that he drew up the sale agreement between a Mr Maxwell Kinyanjui and his wife, who sold the lower Kabete property to Mr Cohen.

"Mr Cohen was introduced to me by a former assistant minister, Ngengi Muigai, who had a parcel of land adjacent to the deceased," he said.

The search for Cohen

Mr Kirundi said Mr Cohen's sister Ms Gabriella, who lives in Brazil, informed him in July 2019 that her brother had gone missing and asked him to look for him.

He said he called Mr Muigai, who was away in India.

The court heard that Mr Cohen had earlier told him he wanted to divorce Ms Wairimu and asked him to handle the case.

"Because I knew Sarah, I did not want to prosecute the divorce, so I referred him to the late Judy Thongori and asked him also to retain lawyer Danstan Omari for an assault case against Sarah," Mr Kirundi recounted.

He said he roped in Ms Thongori and Mr Omari to help look for Cohen.

"I asked Mr Omari to proceed to Cohen's residence, but he found a fierce dog that was roaming in the compound," he said.

He then asked Mr Omari to report the disappearance at Spring Valley Police Station, but "officers at the station were reluctant to record his statement", the lawyer said.

Mr Kirundi told the court that he and Cohen had lunch in July 2019, at which Cohen said he was happy that she would be prosecuted for assaulting him seriously.

He said Mr Cohen had also told him he intended to fly out of Kenya in October 2019, and that "allegations by Sarah that her husband had travelled to Bangkok, Thailand, for treatment were false".

Mr Kirundi said he learnt of Cohen's death on September 13, 2019, when Ms Thongori told him that their client's body had been recovered from a septic tank at his palatial home in the city.

Friend disputes book

Earlier, a former assistant minister and three-decade friend of Mr Cohen, Patrick Kariuki Muiruri, disputed a claim that the dutchman wrote a book in which he named his friends and enemies.

Mr Cohen died in 2019, and the book was published in 2020.

"Mr Cohen could not have written his own memoirs from the grave," Mr Muiruri said.

The book allegedly named the late minister John Michuki among Cohen's enemies. Mr Muiruri said: "Mr Cohen was not known to the late powerful minister. It is a lie that he had enemies. He was a good man."

He also described as "ugly" a cultural ceremony at which Ms Wairimu's daughter was married to an Italian businessman. He told the court that Ms Wairimu did not recognise Mr Cohen during the ceremony and "grabbed the microphone from him when he was addressing guests, telling him that was not his home and he could not welcome guests".

Cross-examination turns heated

Mr Muiruri concluded his testimony on Monday (November 9) after cross-examination by Senior Counsel Pravin Bowry, for Ms Wairimu.

He recounted how Mr Cohen called him on the night of July 19, 2019, and told him he was "fearing for his life and that should he vanish or disappear or be found somewhere dumped dead Ms Wairimu should be held responsible".

Mr Muiruri said Mr Cohen had told him about his frosty marriage in the presence of two retired Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers at the Kabete Veterinary Laboratories golf course.

He denied Mr Bowry's suggestion that he chose to testify falsely against Ms Wairimu because she had turned down his sexual advances. When it was put to him that he had harboured feelings for her, he answered: "How can I seek sexual favours from such a woman?"

The cross-examination was repeatedly interrupted to let Mr Muiruri and Mr Bowry cool down as emotions ran high.

"Breathe in and take some water to cool down," Justice Kavedza told Mr Muiruri.

He breathed in, drank some water and took a short walk around the courtroom after asking the defence lawyer "not to insinuate he was a liar, yet he told the judge the whole truth".

Ms Wairimu has been denied bond and is remanded at Lang'ata Women's Prison. The hearing continues. 

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