The battle for the multibillion property of businessman and former spymaster James Kanyotu has taken a twist after a man claimed that he is one of the sons of the late billionaire.
Martin Njuguna went to court to stop the distribution of Kanyotu's Ksh20 billion estate until it is determined if he is one of Kanyotu's legitimate sons.
Njuguna claimed that the deceased had been taking care of his educational and financial needs.
"Kanyotu, during his lifetime, maintained and supported me financially and even settled my educational needs.. but my mother has since died and that is the reason I had not taken any steps by virtue of not knowing where to start," Njuguna stated.
He claimed that he was not previously aware of the distribution of the estate but only learnt of the inheritance case through media reports.
The spymaster died on February 13, 2008 without writing a will which sparked a long protracted battle by family members over his estate.
At the time of his death, the public was aware of one wife Mary who had four children; Sandra Gathoni, John Kariuki, Christopher Ngata and Stephanie Njeri.
However, following his death, three other women came out to claim that they had relationships with the deceased.
Jane Gathoni, Margaret Nyakinyua and Mercy Mathenge, sought to have a slice of the estate alleging that they bore children belonging to Kanyotu.
This prompted a DNA test to be conducted to certify the women's claims. The results showed that Kanyotu had five other children among them Grace Nyawira, Christine Wangari, George Irungu, Rose Nyawera and Samuel Kimondo.
The test results excluded Willy Kihara Njoki who had also emerged claiming to have a share of the estate.
