A Chinese road construction firm's forays ended on a sour note after the High Court ordered it to pay Ksh55 million to a firm associated with businessman Maina Wanjigi- Jimmy Wanjigi's father.
According to court documents seen by Kenyans.co.ke on April 17, the China Gansu International Corporation for Economic Technical Corporation Company Limited was found to have trespassed into Wanjigi's farm in Ruiru and excavated murram soil without authority.
Wanjigi's firm, identified as Kitamaiyu Limited, accused the Chinese contractor of entering into the suit premises and carting away several lorries of murram soil causing massive damage to the topography of the property.
The firm further told the court that it had been in charge of the land for over 29 years and produced a sales agreement dated November 23, 1989, to prove the ownership of the land in contention.
It further showed Justice Lucy Gacheru, who was presiding over the case, photographs of trucks on the property to further substantiate their case after the Chinese firm failed to show up in court.
Justice Gacheru held that the court was satisfied that indeed there was an exercise of carrying away of the murram from the land, and in the absence of evidence to contradict claims by Kitamaiyu, she held that the said trucks belonged to the Chinese construction company.
"There is no evidence to weigh against the plaintiff's evidence. However, the plaintiff is the one who has alleged and he had a duty to call sufficient evidence to prove his case on the required standard of a balance of probabilities," she stated.
Justice Gacheru, sitting at the Environment and Lands Court in Thika, made it clear that despite being served with court documents, the Chinese company failed to file its defence.
"Further, failure to defend indeed demonstrated there was wastage and destruction of the suit property that was ongoing and the said wastage and destruction needed to be stopped," she noted.
She then awarded Kitamaiyu Limited a Ksh 55,042,000 payout based on evaluation documents prepared by Ezekiel Musau and presented to the court as the true value of the damages.
“Without any evidence to controvert the same, this court has no reason to doubt that the plaintiff has suffered damage as stipulated in the report.
"Consequently, the court finds and holds that the plaintiff is entitled to damages as stated in the valuation report,” Justice Gacheru ruled.
The Chinese contractor was undertaking the upgrading of Ruiru-Githunguri-Uplands road to bitumen standards.
