Mwingi custody case: Endless court drama as parents face off in girl’s custody case

A separated couple is embroiled in a long-running court battle for the custody of their nine-year-old daughter.

A video clip of a minor named in court documents as SW surfaced clinging to her father and clearly not ready to be taken by a woman said to be her mother.

A group of people can be seen outside the courtroom watching in awe as the drama unfolds inside. Attempts by a police officer to convince the girl to let go of her father so that she could go with the mother were thwarted as the girl loudly protested, clinging to her father’s neck.

The drama unfolded at Mwingi Law Courts during the hearing of a three-year court battle pitting the man against his former wife with whom they separated nine years ago when the girl was only months old. 

In a sworn affidavit, the woman identified as JKK noted that the court granted her custody of the child on December 1, 2019 and allowed her to enroll the girl in a school of her choice. Born in February 2010, the life of the girl has been full of drama as shown in the court documents. After the two got married, they experienced marital problems and the women left with the baby.

Later that year, the father identified as EMM received a distress call from unknown people asking him to come for the child abandoned in a rental house where the woman was a tenant. He took in the child, taking up all responsibilities of nurturing, bringing up and education for seven years. Pleadings by the man’s defence lawyers show that upon making inquiries, the man found out that his former wife had settled with another man.

In 2017, she filed a suit a seeking custody and in her argument, she noted that she is the mother and has the upper hand to be with her daughter. The woman argued she had been unable to reach the man who is a teacher at a local school so that she could explain her prolonged absence. She argued that she had a stable job and that she had heard rumours the child was not being educated.

On November 13, 2019, the court ordered that a children’s officer visits the man’s home to find out the whereabouts of the minor. “The preliminary children officer’s report informed that the minor was well and in good health,” read court documents.

The court then ruled that the girl remains with her father and to attend school. He produced the child’s report cards and other supporting documents and argued that it would be wrong to disrupt the child’s life after eight years. “I have no objection to letting my daughter and her mother bond,” pleaded the father.

Senior Resident Magistrate Grace Kirugumi awarded the mother full custody of the minor effective the December 1.

Ultimately, the mother moved court to have the man cited for contempt for failing to hand over the child.