Kenyan loses in child custody suit
A court on Tuesday allowed a 29-year-old Zimbabwean woman who flew all the way from South Africa to ask a Kenyan court to grant her custody of her four-year- old son, to stay with the boy, albeit temporarily. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- The woman’s lawyer, Ms Elizabeth Wangari, convinced acting senior resident magistrate Judicaster Nthuku that the mother would provide for, protect her son and allow her former husband to visit him.
- In court, lawyer Wangari had urged the magistrate to restore the mother’s parental rights, arguing the boy had been left with his relatives as the father was out of the country.
She flew all the way from South Africa to ask a Kenyan court to grant her custody of her four-year- old son.
And the court yesterday allowed the 29-year-old Zimbabwean woman to stay with the boy, albeit temporarily.
The child’s Kenyan father had brought him from South Africa to live with his elderly parents in Nakuru after he fell out with the mother.
The woman’s lawyer, Ms Elizabeth Wangari, convinced acting senior resident magistrate Judicaster Nthuku that the mother would provide for, protect her son and allow her former husband to visit him.
The woman says she fell in love with the Kenyan in South Africa in 2009.
After they had the baby, their relationship turned sour after returning from a visit to the man’s family in Nakuru’s Free Area.
She says she had never imagined that one day she would be fighting to keep the boy.
Yesterday, her former mother-in-law denied her access to the child despite being served with the court order.
She said she would only release the child in the presence of his mother’s lawyer.
ILLEGAL DOCUMENTS
In court, lawyer Wangari had urged the magistrate to restore the mother’s parental rights, arguing the boy had been left with his relatives as the father was out of the country.
Her client, who arrived in Kenya during the Easter holidays, said she had taken care of the child without her former husband’s help.
“He worked with my sister’s husband and that is how we met and everything moved so quickly before I knew it, we had moved in together when I was eight months pregnant,” she said.
Four months later, she realised they were not compatible and they separated but informally agreed that he would be allowed to visit the child, she said.
In her papers presented to the court, she claimed her former husband falsely acquired documents that enabled him to travel back to Kenya with the boy.
Investigation
She urged the court to order an investigation to establish how their son was issued with a new passport when she still has his original one and birth certificate.
Before she went to court, she had shocked her in-laws when she arrived unannounced at their new home at Pipeline estate, but they would hear none of her demands to have her son back.
The child’s father was yet to file his response in court as the matter had just been lodged and heard for the first time.
