Two kept apart on wedding eve
George Ngugi Kinuthia and Rose Karimi Kihoti outside the High Court after their wedding to be celebrated at the St Charles Lwanga Kahawa Barracks Catholic Church on Saturday was halted November 5, 2010. PAUL WAWERU
A librarian and his fiancée will have to wait a little longer to be joined as one.
This is after the High Court put to a halt what would have been their big day.
In a short ruling, Justice Luka Kimaru said that the wedding, which was to be celebrated at St Charles Lwanga Kahawa Barracks Catholic Church Saturday morning ,should not be held awaiting his direction on November 8.
The celebration between George Ngugi Kinuthia and Rose Karimi Kihoti was stopped after Mr Kinuthia’s wife Esther Njeri moved to court.
According to Ms Njeri, her marriage with Mr Kinuthia was still valid and the wedding should therefore not be held until he is ordered to release all her personal documents including title documents to their matrimonial property.
Further, Ms Njeri is also seeking maintenance fee from Mr Kinuthia to cater for their two children aged 13 and eight years.
Arguing her case before Justice Kimaru, Ms Njeri through lawyer Mugo Kamau said Mr Kinuthia should be compelled to release titles to their matrimonial property in Juja town.
Mr Kamau said that Njeri and Kinuthia had lived together as husband and wife for 13 years and were blessed with two daughters.
He said that the two were married under Kikuyu customary law but he later abdicated his responsibilities in 2005 and showed hostility towards her.
He added that Kinuthia later evicted her from their home and engaged in extra marital affairs with Ms Kihoti. The 35-year-old woman later moved to Germany but has been frequenting Kenya.
She maintained that the house belonged to her but was registered in their names in trust of the two children. Ms Njeri said she was informed of the planned wedding by a friend and her efforts to put it off until their differences were resolved had been fruitless.
In reply, Mr Kinuthia wanted the order lifted arguing that there was no marriage between him and Ms Njeri. He said that Njeri deserted him in 2005 and was married to a German.
He told the court that Njeri obtained the injunction with concealment of some facts. And after hearing both sides, Justice Kimaru directed that the wedding should not proceed. He dared the lovebirds to proceed with the wedding at their own “peril”.
The judge will give his direction on November 8.
