High Court Revokes Sh750,000 Award to Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi for Broken Windscreen of His Bentley

The High Court has reversed a ruling awarding lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi Sh750,000 as compensation for his broken car windscreen.

In 2020, a Kajiado magistrate’s court directed the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to pay Ahmednasir the amount for the repair of his car’s windshield that was destroyed over three years ago.

The senior counsel sued KeNHA for negligence in November 2018 after his Bentley Bentayga’s windscreen was smashed by stones along the Nairobi-Namanga road.

He argued that the contractor hired by the highways agency to rehabilitate the road failed to put up signposts indicating it was under repair, thus exposing motorists to danger.

Ahmednassir was driving back to Nairobi from Arusha, Tanzania on August 30th, 2018 when the incident happened.

The magistrate court ruled in favor of Ahmednassir, saying that KeNHA had the responsibility of ensuring the safety of motorists and ordered the authority to compensate him.

But KeNHA appealed the ruling, arguing that Ahmednassir lacked proof that tied KeNHA to the incident.

High Court Judge Stella Mutuku overruled the payment, noting that Ahmednassir failed to table evidence and witnesses to prove his allegations of how the accident happened.

“No one else, other than the respondent, is aware that he was travelling to Nairobi from Arusha on the 30th August 2018. The exact location of the accident is also not known,” the judge ruled on Tuesday.

“As the evidence stands, it is his word of mouth alone that he travelled to Tanzania. He told the trial court that his word is sufficient. I am afraid not. At least not under these circumstances.”

The judge further noted that the lawyer failed to inform KeNHA after the incident until one month later when he sent a demand letter that lacked photographs showing the extent of damage or a police report.