High Court Reviews Samuel Wanjiru Estate Grant in Ongoing Succession Dispute

The High Court in Nakuru has ordered a review of the probate grant issued in the estate of late Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru, directing that it be amended to include a child born out of wedlock.

According to Nation Sport, the court found that although the estate had already been administered in favour of Wanjiru’s widow, Teresia Njeri, there was sufficient evidence showing that the deceased also had another child with Judy Wambui, who must be recognised as a beneficiary.

Following Wanjiru’s death in 2011, succession proceedings were initiated, and a grant of probate was issued to his widow, Teresia Njeri. The grant was later confirmed on October 30, 2018, allowing her to manage and distribute the estate.

For several years, the succession process appeared settled. However, in 2025, Judy Wambui moved to court seeking to revoke the confirmed grant. She argued that it had been obtained fraudulently and that key facts had been concealed from the court.

In her application, Wambui told the court that she had been in a long-term relationship with the late athlete from around 2007. She claimed that Wanjiru had visited her parents and expressed his intention to marry her, on the condition that she first completed her college education.

She further alleged that Wanjiru supported her financially, including paying her tuition at Tracom College between 2007 and 2009. According to her, the two later moved in together in Nakuru, where they lived as husband and wife.

Wambui stated that at the time of Wanjiru’s death in 2011, she was pregnant with his child. She said the sudden death disrupted plans for him to formally introduce her and the unborn child to his family.

To protect her child’s interests, Wambui moved to court shortly after his death and obtained orders preventing burial until DNA samples were taken from the deceased. The subsequent DNA test confirmed that Wanjiru was indeed the biological father of her son.

She argued that despite this, she was excluded from the succession process, while the estate was fully administered and confirmed in favour of the widow. She asked the court to revoke the grant to allow proper inclusion of all beneficiaries.

Wambui told the court that she waited for the conclusion of the public inquest into Wanjiru’s death, which was eventually determined in 2023 that the athlete died in an accident.

After the inquest ended, she began formal succession proceedings, only to discover that the estate had already been distributed under a confirmed grant.

She said this discovery prompted her application for revocation, insisting that the widow had failed to disclose all dependents of the deceased.

In her pleadings, Wambui urged the court to set aside the earlier grant, arguing that it was necessary to correct the record and ensure that all rightful beneficiaries were included in the estate.

Teresia Njeri strongly opposed the application. She told the court that Wambui was an impostor who only surfaced after Wanjiru’s death and had never been known to her or introduced by her husband.

She maintained that Wanjiru had a recognised family consisting only of herself and their two children. According to her, there was no evidence that the deceased had ever acknowledged Wambui or her child as dependents during his lifetime.

Njeri also challenged the DNA findings, arguing that they were insufficient on their own to establish dependency or entitlement to the estate. She further claimed that Wambui was already married elsewhere, which, in her view, weakened her claim.

After considering the evidence, the High Court found that there was credible proof that the child born to Wambui was indeed fathered by the late athlete. The court placed significant weight on the DNA results, which were not successfully discredited.

The judge held that the child was therefore a legal beneficiary of the estate and entitled to benefit from it alongside Wanjiru’s other children.

However, the court noted that Wambui had failed to provide sufficient evidence proving that she had lived with the deceased as husband and wife, or that he had supported her education as claimed.

Rather than revoke the entire grant, the court opted for a more limited remedy. It ordered a recall and review of the confirmed grant issued on October 30, 2018.

The judge directed that the estate be reconstituted and held in trust for all three children of the late athlete, two from Teresia Njeri and one from Judy Wambui.

The court emphasised that the purpose of the review was to protect the interests of the minor child, who had not been included in the original succession process.