A soldier who was injured at an Absa Bank branch is at the centre of a legal battle over whether he was a customer seeking help or a trespasser who forced his way into the premises.

Mr Gerald Eregae Ewoyate was awarded Sh700,000 after a Machakos court found the bank responsible for injuries he suffered at its branch in 2022.

Senior Principal Magistrate Betty Chepkemei Koech awarded him the amount on November 28, 2025, but the bank appealed at the High Court saying he was a trespasser.

Absa bank on Muindi Mbingu Street in Nairobi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

Mr Eragae insisted that he was a customer of the bank and had visited the branch to report theft of his ATM card.

“I was at all material times a lawful visitor and account holder of the bank,” Mr Ewoyate told the High Court in opposing Absa’s bid to stop payment of the award. He said he had gone to the Machakos branch to report the theft of his ATM card and close his account for security reasons.

The bank, however, says Mr Ewoyate was at the branch after business hours and was attempting to force his way into the premises.

In its appeal against the lower court decision, the bank argues that the judgment wrongly extended the bank’s responsibility to a person it considers to have been unlawfully on its premises.

The dispute centres on what happened when Mr Ewoyate fell at the branch.

According to the soldier, the trial court considered CCTV footage and found that he fell from a raised veranda that had no protective guardrails. He also said he was pushed by a security guard.

Absa disputes this interpretation of the footage. It told the High Court that the CCTV showed Mr Ewoyate falling while attempting to force his way through the bank’s door.

The bank argues that the appeal raises an important question on whether businesses should be held responsible for people who enter their premises without permission.

“The Respondent was neither an invited nor a permitted visitor to the Bank's premises. He had gone to the Bank after business hours and attempted to force entry into the premises,” the banks states in court papers.

No guarantee of refund

The High Court was not, however, asked at this stage to decide whether Mr Ewoyate was a trespasser or whether Absa was ultimately responsible for his injuries.

Instead, Justice Emmanuel Bitta was considering whether the bank should be allowed to temporarily stop payment of the Sh700,000 while it pursues its appeal.

Absa filed its application on January 15, 2026, less than two months after the lower court judgment. Justice Bitta found that the bank had acted without unreasonable delay.

The bank argued that it could suffer financial loss if it paid the money and later won the appeal, claiming that there was no guarantee Mr Ewoyate would be able to refund it.

Mr Ewoyate rejected the claim, saying he remains a serving member of the Kenya Defence Forces.

He told the court that his injuries, which required insertion of a metal implant, had affected his deployment and career progression.

Justice Bitta found that Absa had raised a reasonable concern about recovering the money but had not produced evidence showing that Mr Ewoyate was unable to repay it.

The judge said the soldier’s continued employment did not automatically prove that he had enough money to repay the award. Equally, the injuries affecting his deployment and promotion did not prove that he lacked the financial ability to do so.

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Justice Bitta therefore allowed Absa to temporarily stop payment of the award, but imposed a condition.

The bank must deposit the entire Sh700,000 in an interest-earning joint account held in the names of the lawyers representing both sides.

The money must be deposited within 30 days of the ruling delivered on July 30, 2026. If Absa fails to do so, the order stopping payment will automatically lapse.

The judge said the arrangement would preserve the money while protecting both sides as the appeal proceeds.

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bmatheka@ke.nationmedia.com