A television journalist has been sued for allegedly dumping his ex-lover and their sick daughter.
He is further accused of not honouring a Sh25,000 monthly upkeep agreement.
Diana Gacheri Kimathi claims in court documents that Job Mwaura, with whom she was in a relationship for more than a year, abandoned his fatherly responsibilities for their child who is said to be suffering from lack of Vitamin D among other ailments, according to the court documents.
In a case filed at the Milimani Law Courts, Gacheri, who claims she was fired from a government job, accuses Mwaura of being temperamental, violent and physically assaulted her whenever she enquired about women she suspected he was seeing.
On his part, Mwaura accuses Gacheri of being hostile and negligent of their child. He further states that he is constrained financially as he also supports his sickly father and other relatives.
In a sworn affidavit at the Children’s Court, Gacheri says they met and fell in love in 2009.
Later, they holed up in Nairobi’s Mukuru area before they landed jobs as their relationship blossomed, leading to a customary marriage in 2012. They were blessed with a baby in 2013.
Gacheri says she thought the bundle of joy would have strengthened their union but two years later, she claims, Mwaura changed.
“Our daughter has a condition that has forced her to undergo surgery to remove adenoids in 2015,” states Gacheri, adding that, “She is sickly and suffers on and off as a result of the condition and the glands were confirmed to have reoccurred in hospital.
According to the court documents, following frequent disagreements, they settled for a written separation agreement in 2014, that required Mwaura to pay Sh25,000 for upkeep but “sometime in 2015, he started delaying sending the money and he would give excuses that he was handling some urgent issues that required financial input,” Gacheri states.
Things took an unexpected twist when Mwaura stopped sending the money, and instead sent the cash to Gacheri’s mother without any explanation.
Mwaura’s mother-in-law took it as repayment of a loan.
The family held two meetings where elders oversaw their reconciliation. In the documents, Gacheri states that after informing him (of their baby’s condition), he started sending the money (in the months of May, June and July).
Gacheri adds that in July, this year, her baby fell sick and was admitted to hospital.
“He claimed that I had neglected the child which was not the case. We all know that the weather is very cold in that period. Due to this, my baby’s condition worsened,” she further stated.
In a replying affidavit drawn and filed by Ham Lagat Advocates, Mwaura accused Gacheri of being hostile, negligent and unreasonable towards him, thus the reason he stopped communicating with her for fear of hostility.
It partly reads, “I was shocked to see the condition of the minor. She was malnourished, underweight and seriously starving, was lacking essential vitamins such as A and D and had pneumonia, among other diseases and ended up paying a medical bill of Sh187, 000.”
In the document seeking for full custody of the child, he added that, “I later learnt that the respondent has not been taking care of the minor and had instead left the minor with her mother in Kayole who is jobless and the house where she lives is not in good condition for the three-year-old child, yet I’ve been sending her money.”
In another application seeking the court to review its term as per earlier agreement, Mwaura claimed to be supporting his sickly father and other siblings.
