Court throws out man's bid to punish wife for leaving

The Court of Appeal has thwarted a man’s plot to frame his wife with child abduction.

The woman, MNM, walked out of the marriage with her older child and left the younger one with her husband, CCM.

But the man went to the police and reported that his wife had abducted one child and abandoned  the other one.

The man reported that his wife abducted the child at midnight on October 25, 2015, and that he needed police assistance to find her.

After investigations, police forwarded the file to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

But the DPP declined to prosecute the case, citing lack of evidence.

Aggrieved, the man sued the DPP alongside the woman at the High Court.

But the court threw out the case after observing that the man was liable for what had befallen him.

CMM then moved to the Court of Appeal.

In his appeal, CCM told justices Hannah Okwengu, Gatembu Kairu and Agnes Murgor that the DPP failed to act on a complaint. He argued that the DPP made a misleading statement that he had acted on the complaint.

In his reply, the DPP maintained that he had decided not to prosecute the man's wife; and that the decision was within the law.

While urging the court to dismiss the appeal, the DPP said there was no evidence to show that he had acted irrationally or illegally. The court also heard that the man did not demonstrate that no investigations actually took place.

The Court of Appeal agreed. While dismissing CCM’s case, the court found that the complaint he had filed was civil and a private matter. It also found that there was nothing criminal to pursue in the complaint.

It criticised the man for involving his children in the differences he has with his wife instead of taking care of their interests.

According to the judges, CCM's case was motivated by vengeance against his wife for leaving him.

They asserted that the dispute concerned the man and his wife and not the children, and that the DPP was right in refusing to allow the appellant to abuse the legal process by procuring charges motivated by malice.

The judges ordered the man to pay for the costs of the case.