Tebaara v Bare [2009] KIHC 31; Civil Case 162 of 2008 (22 July 2009)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KIRIBATI
CIVIL JURISDICTION
HELD AT BETIO
REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI

HIGH COURT CIVIL CASE 162 OF 2008

BETWEEN:

TEMARENA TEBAARA MT MM
APPLICANT

AND:

BATERIKI BARE
RESPONDENT

For the Applicant: Mr Michael Takabwebwe
For the Respondent: Mr Banuera Berina

Date of Hearing: 22 July 2009

JUDGMENT
(Ex Tempore)

In CN 426/99 the Single Magistrate ordered that "the name of Bateriki Bare together with the name of his wife Aretaake shall be registered on half of the land Bikennuka 742a running straight from the lagoon to the ocean side".

That decision has been challenged several times since – in LR 16/04, CN 71/07 and LA 40/08 – and each time has been confirmed by the Court. It has stood for 10 years now and has withstood three attacks on it. Now too late to upset it.

The problem is – and remains to be solved – that it is only recently that the respondent has applied for a boundary determination and in the meantime, since 1999 (and according to Mr Takabwebwe even before) parts of the land have been sold to bona fide purchasers for value. How then is a boundary determination to be carried out? The respondent has acknowledged that he now cannot have the whole half of the land but that is only one step in the process.

The present application is for "an injunction to restrain the Single Magistrate from hearing and determining CN 164/08 ----" That is the application for a boundary determination. I granted an interim injunction on 23 October 2008.

There will inevitably be further litigation to establish the rights and boundaries not only of the present parties but also of those purchasers of various parts of Bikennuka 742a. They are for another time.

The decision in CN 426/99 must prevail and obliges the Court to refuse the application and to lift the interim injunction.

THE HON ROBIN MILLHOUSE QC
Chief Justice