PHOTO: Lotto. FILE
According to NZHERALD a once “close-knit” Auckland family has been torn apart following a big Lotto win 13 years ago – and a subsequent court battle over a home that was purchased with the help of the payout.
“Many people dream of a Lotto win,” says a recently released Court of Appeal judgment.
“Even a modest win might lift a family’s circumstances and relieve financial pressure. In this case, a Lotto win seemed, at first, to do just that. It allowed a family to put down a deposit on a large house in South Auckland in which they could all live together.”
But, as the court found, the win and the purchase of the home turned sour as Auckland couple Ajnesh Chinappa and his wife, Vilashni, came up against Ajnesh’s sister Angeline Narain, and their mother, Kaniamma Winter, in the courts.
The dispute stems back to January 2009, when the $250,000 winning ticket was bought in Auckland.
“There is a dispute as to whether Angeline or her mother purchased the Lotto ticket,” noted the Court of Appeal.
“What is agreed is that on 24 January 2009, Mrs Winter and her daughter-in-law, Vilashni, went grocery shopping…
“They checked the Lotto ticket at Panmure Stationery and Lotto Shop and found it had won a prize of $250,000. Mrs Winter, with Vilashni’s assistance, completed the Lotto prize claim form on the spot.”
At the time, Winter filled out the form with her details but Chinappa’s bank account number was put down. The sum was later transferred into a bank account set up for the family, although $30,000 was left in Chinappa’s personal account.
That year Chinappa and her husband Ajnesh used the $30,000 towards a deposit on a six-bedroom house in Auckland’s Papatoetoe where they lived with Winter and Angeline. (Winter is also the mother of Ajnesh).
The family lived in relative peace in the home until 2012, when Angeline Narain’s partner moved in and relationships turned sour. Narain and Winter ended up being trespassed from the house.
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