Man claiming to be Amario's son blocked from Sh760m estate

A man has been blocked from the Sh760 million estate of late tycoon Fai Amario after he failed to prove he was his son.

Justice Samwel Mohochi ruled on Wednesday that a birth certificate dated March 5, 2010, which Elvis Karee produced as evidence to show that he was Amario’s son, was fishy, suspect, and unreliable.

The court found that the birth certificate which had Amario’s name, showed Karee was born in 1991, eight years before Amario changed his name from Gilbert Njoroge to Fai Amario.

“Evidence in court shows that Amario was known as Njoroge in 1991 and Karee’s mother Shinta Wambui met Amario in 1999, when Karee was eight years old,” ruled Justice Mohochi.

The Judge said he was not convinced that Karee’s mother would have assumed the name Amario, eight years before she got married to him.

Mohochi ruled that Karee not only failed to prove he was Amario’s biological son but that he was dependent on him for sustenance; food, shelter, and school fees, among others.

“The applicant (Karee), needed to provide evidence of monetary support by the deceased or adoption, which would make him a beneficiary. He is not,” he ruled.

Further, Judge Mohochi ruled that Karee’s summons for revocation of the grant of administration of the estate, issued to Amario’s children, was without merit and dismissed it.

He condemned Karee to pay the cost of the suit he filed on May 9, 2024, against Amario’s children Miki Ng’ang’a, Marsha Dee, and Sheena Euston.

In his application, Karee had urged the court to revoke the grant of letters of administration to Dee, Ng'ang’a, and Euston, the administrators, on February 15, 2023.

“The administrators obtained a partial confirmation of grant through deliberate concealment of material facts of my existence,” he submitted.

He said he only found out the succession case had been filed in court after the partial confirmation on January 31, 2024.

On the said date, the court distributed part of the estate worth over Sh56 million to 10 beneficiaries, including Dee, Ng’ang’a, and Sheena.

As an alleged biological child, Karee said he was deliberately left out of the beneficiaries list, despite the administrators being aware of his interest and existence.

“The sale and distribution of the assets will be prejudicial to me because I will be disinherited from the estate and my rights will be violated,” he said.

Karee argued that Amario was polygamous and he married his mother Shinta after he famously placed an advert in local dailies while searching for a wife in 1999.

According to the report in the dailies, filed as evidence, Amario married Shinta in Nakuru on September 11, 1999.

“The administrators are aware I exist. They knew my mother. They never informed me of the proceedings and the case was filed in 2010, while I was still in high school,” he submitted.

He said they deliberately left out his name from the obituary and eulogy, when Amario died in 2010, after which they refused to pay his secondary school and university fees.

Ng’ang’a and Dee admitted that their father married Shinta, but they separated in 2001.

They insisted that during their marriage, Karee was eight years old and when they divorced, he was 10, meaning it is impossible for him to claim he was their biological sibling.

They also said that a DNA test which Karee consented to, proved he was not a biological son of Amario. The results, they said, were not contested by Karee.

“The applicant is not my brother. His claims have no foundation. He has no evidence and he is imagining things,” submitted Ng’ang’a.

He insisted that even though Karee was supported by Amario, it was not proof that he was his biological son.

Dee argued that Karee’s passport indicated that he was born in 1991 when their father was known as Njoroge, before he changed name to Amario in 1999.

She said that Shinta was not buried at their father’s home.

The case will be mentioned on November 12.