Joy as widow wins back Sh2bn house

Dar es Salaam. A widow whose husband was shot dead in the middle of an eight-year battle to repossess their nearly Sh2 billion  worth city plot and mansion had a reason to wipe out her tears when a court granted her the right to the property.   Ms Mary Kituly, 44, was declared the rightful owner of the property in the upmarket Mikocheni estate in Dar es Salaam by the High Court (Land Division), in a judgement that saw her break into loud sobs and a torrent of tears inside the court. 

The woman endured eight years of agony, frustration and setbacks after her family was mercilessly thrown out their home in 2007 by well-known Dar es Salaam businessmen Alex Massawe and Aboubakar Marijani alias Papaa Msofe.

The eviction, which defence lawyers described during the hearing of the case as “most brutal and highest form of disrespect of the law” crushed the lives of the family, whose head Onesphory Kituly was then an emerging Tanzanite dealer. The family thereafter lived a miserable life, spending their savings and time to seek a return of their valuable investment in court.

Ms Kituly says the murder of her husband in November 2011 was the darkest moment of her entire life and almost drove her into insanity as she was left alone to fend for the family and at the same time pursue unfinished business in court where she was contesting against some of Dar’s monied wheeler-dealers.  

Msofe and a court broker, Makongoro Nyerere, would later be linked with the shooting to death of Kituly and were arraigned in court in August 2012 to face murder charges. The case was, however, dropped in June 2015 by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for lack of progress in investigations. The suspects were however re-arrested and charged with forging and falsifying records to take ownership of the Kituly’s plot and mansion.  Last week when the forgery case concluded, Ms Kituly wept uncontrollably inside the courtroom soon after it became clear she would be winning the case. She cried throughout the reading of the judgement by Justice Agathon Nchimbi of the Land Division.

“This is the greatest day of my life. Indeed I thank God for this. I have been coming to court with my late husband for years to seek justice. Although Kituly is dead, I am sure his prayers have worked for us,” she said amid sobs. “I have suffered a lot. The people I have been fighting against are so powerful and well-connected in our systems.”

Judge Nchimbi in his judgement said the title deed of the storeyed house, which Mr Kituly had pledged as security for a loan he received from Massawe did not automatically pass to another holder even if the borrower failed to repay the loan.

He said the law was not followed before the title deed was passed to another person. “I am firm that the title deed was not validly passed from Mr Kituly to Massawe,” said the judge.

The judge went on to state that the eviction of the Kituly’s was unlawful and most unfortunate because it was conducted without any court order and without involving a local government authority.

“For the end of justice, the defendants’ act over the suit property is hereby declared unlawful and illegal. The plaintiff (Ms Kituly) is declared the lawful owner of the property (in dispute),” said the judge.

The judge directed the accused to immediately return the tittle deed to the widow and that his family be restored in the house in seven days which ends today.

Judge Nchimbi also ordered the them to pay the widow Sh300 million in general damages that should attract a 12 per cent interest from the date of the judgment until final payment.  The miserable life of the plaintiff and her family can be traced back in December 2003 when her husband was taken by a friend to prominent businessman Massawe to secure a Sh30 million loan. Based on the agreement, the loan was to be repaid by June 2004. Mr Kituly pledged his house as security for the loan.

However, when he wanted to repay the loan, Massawe reportedly avoided him and made it difficult to meet to discharge the loan agreement. The debt has remained unpaid until today. 

Sometime in October 2007, Nyerere, Massawe and Papaa Msofe invaded Mr Kituly’s house and carted away all his property. They then locked the family out of the mansion, claiming he had defaulted the loan agreement.

Mr Kituly then embarked on the search for justice, knocking every door in government to seek justice. They wrote piles of letters to seek assistance from the Home Affairs ministry, the police and office of the Attorney General in vain.  In 2007 they filed a suit in the High Court’s Land Division. The case dragged in court for five years before Kituly was brutally murdered outside a rented house in Magomeni Mapipa in the city.

It was around 7pm when a lone gunman shot the 54-year-old Kituly more than five times in the chest, stomach and chin in what his family believes until today was a contract killing. He died in front of his daughter who had gone to open the gate for him. The gunman pounced as he drove into his compound. He died while being rushed to Muhimbili National Hospital. 

A week before his death, the High Court had set a date to start hearing the case in which he had sued Papaa Msofe, Alex Massawe and Makongoro Nyerere for unlawfully acquiring and evicting him from his house currently worth nearly Sh2 billion. He accused them of conspiring to ‘rob’ him of his house.