A High Court judge has dismissed businesswoman-politician Agnes Kagure’s bid to seize a six-acre Karen estate worth an estimated Sh600 million, instead affirming the last will and testament of its late British owner, Roger Bryan Robson, and vindicating estate lawyer Guy Spencer Elms after more than a decade of litigation.
In a 33-page ruling delivered on Monday, Justice Hillary Chemitei found “no shred of evidence” that Robson was coerced, mentally unfit or otherwise manipulated when he executed his 1997 will. The judge said the document, witnessed by two people and drafted by a qualified advocate, satisfied every legal test of validity.
Kagure – who has twice sought elective office in Nairobi and once eyed the deputy-governor slot – claimed she bought the wooded plot in 2011 with a cash payment. Her co-claimant, Thomas Mutaha of Plovers Haunt Ltd, insisted the Briton had gifted him the same land without a written agreement.
Justice Chemitei rejected both narratives, noting that neither plaintiff produced credible sale documents, bank transfers or Land Registry records.
Instead, the court accepted testimony from Robson’s brother, Michael Fairfax Robson, who appeared by video link from the United Kingdom and confirmed the property was never sold. The judge further found that Spencer’s stewardship of the estate – questioned by Kagure and Mutaha – had already survived a criminal probe that collapsed in 2019 for lack of evidence.
Robson, who died childless on 8 August 2012, wished the land abutting Ngong Forest to be liquidated and the proceeds shared among the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Kenya Forest Service and an educational charity, with a portion reserved for a nephew.
The ruling clears the way for those bequests, though any residual disputes over three ancillary parcels have been referred to the Environment and Land Court.
