JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
This appeal arises from the judgment of the High Court (Mugo, J.) by which the learned judge held on 14th July, 2005 that the appellant, Joseph Gitau Githongo, holds 3 acres of Land Reference No. NGENDA/KIMUYU/181 (the suit property) in trust for the respondent, Victoria Mwhihaki Munya. The primary facts of the appeal are not in serious dispute and may be stated thus:
The appellant and the respondent are brother and sister, the children of the late Githongo of Ngenda Location who died in 1940. The suit property, which is situate in Kiambu District and measures approximately 12 acres, belonged to the said Githongo before being registered in 1958 in the name of the appellant as absolute proprietor under the repealed Registered Land Act, cap 300. The respondent has lived all her life on the suit property, save, according to her, for a period of less than one year, and according to the appellant, of about four years, when she lived with one James Munya Rieu (Rieu).
On 1…