The Court of Appeal has handed Rhoda S. Kiilu a significant legal victory after dismissing an attempt by Chinese construction giant Jianxi Water and Hydropower Construction Kenya Ltd to reopen its defence in a long-running land trespass dispute, ruling that courts cannot become a second chance for litigants seeking to repair weak cases.
In a judgement delivered in Nyeri on July 10, a three-judge bench comprising Justices S. ole Kantai, Jessie Lesiit and Ali-Aroni upheld an earlier decision of the Environment and Land Court, finding that Jianxi had failed to meet the strict legal threshold required to reopen a case after both parties had already closed their evidence.
The dispute traces back to 2018 when Kiilu sued the contractor, accusing it of trespassing onto her land while undertaking government road construction works and extracting murram without lawful authority.
Throughout the trial, Jianxi maintained that the disputed parcels did not belong to Kiilu but to another individual with whom it claimed to have entered a lease agreement and whom it had compensated for the extracted materials.
Closed Submissions
But after both sides had closed their cases and judgement was imminent, the company made an eleventh-hour application asking the court to halt delivery of the verdict, reopen its defence and allow it to call fresh expert witnesses.
It also sought police protection to enable surveyors and valuers to enter Kiilu’s land, assess the extent of excavation and prepare reports that it argued were necessary to determine damages.
Jianxi blamed the omission on its former lawyers, saying crucial witnesses had been inadvertently left out and that, as a foreign company unfamiliar with Kenyan law, it had relied heavily on local legal counsel.
It argued that denying it an opportunity to present expert evidence violated its constitutional right to a fair hearing.
The appellate judges were unconvinced.
They noted that the company had been in court for years, had every opportunity to amend its pleadings, gather evidence and call witnesses, yet waited until the case was effectively over before seeking to rebuild its defence.
Contradictions In Application
More critically, the judges found glaring contradictions in Jianxi’s application. On one hand, it claimed witnesses and documents had merely been “skipped”.
On the other, it asked the court to grant it access to Kiilu’s property so it could collect evidence that did not yet exist.
That, the court said, betrayed an attempt not to present overlooked evidence but to create entirely new evidence after trial.
The Court warned that reopening proceedings in such circumstances would unfairly prejudice Kiilu, prolong litigation that had already dragged on for years and undermine the principle that parties must present their entire case during trial.
It reaffirmed that judicial discretion to reopen proceedings exists only in exceptional circumstances and cannot be invoked simply to fill evidentiary gaps or remedy mistakes by counsel.
READ ALSO: Court of Appeal Hands Safaricom Major Victory, Overturns KSh1.67 Million Injury Judgment
Finding no error in the trial judge’s exercise of discretion, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in its entirety and ordered Jianxi Water and Hydropower Construction Kenya Ltd to pay Kiilu’s legal costs.
The ruling reinforces a long-standing judicial principle: litigation must eventually come to an end, and courts are not forums for parties to perfect cases they failed to prosecute diligently.
Support the journalism you love. Become a Gotta Member.
Every Gotta Membership helps fund fearless reporting, in-depth analysis, and the stories that matter most. Purchase anytime, as often as you wish, and help keep independent journalism thriving.
Join Gotta Membership today. Click HERE to check out securely with Paystack.
PAY ATTENTION: Reach us at info@gotta.news.
Â
