Widow Wants Former Equity Bank CEO John Mwangi's Body Exhumed over Property Row

Sarah Wanjiru, one of the widows of the late Equity Bank CEO John Mwangi Kagema has filed an application seeking to have his body exhumed for a DNA test to be carried out over property dispute.

In documents filed in court, Ms. Wanjiru argues that unnecessary court cases will be avoided if a suitable DNA test is conducted on the children of the deceased.

“DNA test be conducted on any other persons alleging to be a biological child of the deceased so as to avoid unnecessary lengthy litigation so as to determine paternity,” reads court papers.

She accuses her co-wife Beatrice Wanjiku Mwangi and her two sons of excluding her in the properties and failing to disclose the extent of the estate left behind by the tycoon.

Wanjiru further notes that Beatrice’s marriage is disputed in light of the information that was shared with her by the late Mwangi.

She claims that upon the passing of their husband, her co-wife for no good reasons kept her away from all the burial arrangements, thus causing her psychological torture, stress, and mental anguish.

In a replying affidavit, Beatrice Wanjiku says she is the legal wife of Mwangi and therefore, the deceased had no capacity to marry another woman since he married in a monogamous union. She dismisses the claim of a third woman, Esther Njeri that she was also a wife to the deceased.

The case will be heard on November 23rd, 2019. 

Mwangi, a renowned entrepreneur and owner of Enashipai Spa & Resort in Naivasha, passed away in December last year. He was one of the wealthiest Kenyans with interests in various sectors — including banking and hospitality — running into billions of shillings

In February this year, Beatrice Wanjiku and two of her four children - James Kagema and Daniel Wamahihu - filed a succession case at the High Court in Nairobi to begin the process of being administrators of his estate.