The High Court has rescinded Sh750,000 awarded to Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdulahi in damages for the replacement and repair of the windscreen of his luxurious Bentley Bentayga car that got destroyed while he was driving along the Nairobi-Namanga highway in 2018.

Justice Stella Mutuku while dismissing the compensation amount said Ahmednasir failed to present evidence or produce a witness to his claims that the windscreen of his car was indeed destroyed while he was driving on the highway.

A Kajiado Magistrate has ruled in favour of Ahmendnasir after he sued the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) for failing to install appropriate signs to warn motorists of danger along the highway about some ongoing-carpeting work going on, on the material day.

Ahmednasir sued KeNHA for negligence after a stone at a section of the road under repair by workers contracted by the authority damaged his car’s windscreen.

KeNHA, however, appealed the decision, arguing that the court place the burden of proving the incident did not occur on the highway.

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KeNHA also argued that there was no evidence that the accident actually occurred.

Mutuku said only Ahmendasir knew that he was travelling from Arusha to Nairobi on that day and the exact location of the accident could not be pinpointed.

“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,” Mutuku said .

She also said his word of mouth alone was not sufficient in the circumstances as the law requires one to present evidence of which Ahmednasir only produces photocopies which were not certified as original and his evidence also required corroboration.

“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,” Mutuku said.

Mutuku also said Ahmednasir only mentioned that the incident occurred somewhere between Kajiado and Isinya.

Despite the court quashing the award, it agreed with Ahmednasir that KeNHA had a duty to warn motorists of any work in progress along the road.

The court also faulted Ahmednasir for delaying in reporting the matter to the authority and only sending a demand letter a month later without producing a shred of photographic evidence showing the extent of the damage or a police report.