Lotto win turns sour for family

AUCKLAND: The man at the centre of a housing dispute and decadelong court fight following a big Lotto win says he and his wife ‘‘can’t take it any further’’.

A once ‘‘closeknit’’ Auckland family has been torn apart following a big Lotto win 13 years ago and a subsequent court battle over a home purchased with the help of the payout.

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.

Mr Chinnappa said yesterday it was his mother who won Lotto.

‘‘My mum won the Lotto, not my sister,’’ he said.

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,’’ the Court of Appeal noted.

When asked what he and his wife would do now or if they would challenge the Court of Appeal finding any further, Mr Chinnappa said they ‘‘can’t take it any further’’.

He also said they planned to sell the house to make the payments ordered by the court.

‘‘What is agreed is that on January 24, 2009, Mrs Winter and her daughterinlaw, 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,’’ noted the Court of Appeal.

At the time, Mrs Winter filled out the form with her details but Mr 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 Mrs Chinappa’s personal account.

That year, Mrs Chinappa and her husband Ajnesh used the $30,000 towards a deposit on a sixbedroom house in Auckland’s Papatoetoe where they lived with Mrs Winter and Ms Narain. (Mrs Winter is also the mother of Ajnesh).

The family lived in relative peace in the home until 2012, when Ms Narain’s partner moved in and relationships turned sour.

Ms Narain and Mrs Winter ended up being trespassed from the house.

The Court of Appeal judgement confirmed a ‘‘division’’ arose among the family members in 2012.

Ms Narain and Mrs Winter claimed Ms Narain had 50% equitable interest in the property and that the $30,000 was intended as a ‘‘gift’’.

In 2021, the High Court found that the winning Lotto ticket belonged to Angeline Narain, she had a 50% share of the house and the $30,000 had not been intended as a gift.

In the recent Court of Appeal judgement, Justice Rachel Dunningham ruled the Chinappas’ appeal was allowed in part.

Justice Dunningham found the Chinappas held a 20% share of the house for Ms Narain and concluded that Ms Narain should be compensated.

The Court of Appeal said it was ‘‘satisfied Angeline has established her entitlement to the Lotto sum on the balance of probabilities’’. —