Paternity suit haunts ex-prisons boss in death

Ex-Prisons Commissioner General Isaiah Osugo. [File, Standard]

A family court has ordered that the former prison commissioner Isaiah Osugo's DNA be extracted in a bid to determine the paternity of two children said to be his.

After hearing the case, Justice Eric Ogola directed that the deceased's DNA be extracted in order to settle a row about whether the two children were his biological children or not.

He directed Kisii Level Four hospital to conduct the exercise.

The case over the minors code-named SEO and RW continues to haunt the former senior police officer even after his death. He denied siring them when he was alive.

The minors' mother Julia Kamuyu told the court that she had filed another case against Osugo before the Children's Court in 2020.

She stated that Osugo appealed the orders but the High Court in September last year dismissed his case.

According to her, to date, the orders of the lower court that he should undergo the paternity test within 14 days are still active

Unfortunately, she stated, he was in India where he was being treated. " The deceased has been ailing and getting treatment in and out of Kenya and therefore unable to avail himself for the DNA testing until he passed on January 9, 2023," her lawyer Deborah Mutheu told the court.

Kamuyu also sought orders from the court to allow the two minors to attend his burial. She claimed that the deceased's family has refused to recognise the two as legitimate children of the former Nairobi Provincial Criminal Investigations Officer.

"The applicant has no intention whatsoever of stopping the funeral but prays the samples of the deceased's DNA to be taken for the purposes of the examination to establish whether the applicant is the biological son and daughter of the deceased and prayed that the funeral is delayed until the DNA samples are taken from the deceased," Kamuyu urged the court.

According to Kamuyu, the burial ought to take place today (January 20). She alleged fears that if a test will not be conducted, then the two minors will have no chance of inheriting him.

She claimed the deceased's family ran an obituary but declined to include the two.

"I am now apprehensive that unless a DNA specimen sample of the deceased is taken before his body is removed from the mortuary on January 19, 2023, there will be no chance to prove the paternity issue of the minor children," Kamuyu said.

Kamuyu said that although she is now seeking DNA from a man who cannot defend himself, she is doing it for the two minors.

In the case, she sued Osugo's widow Drusila Mosiori.

She stated: " It is unfortunate that I am now applying to have the DNA samples taken from the deceased's body, however, I am doing this for the best interest of the minor children, to confirm that he was their father and to secure their livelihoods as well as an inheritance from the estate of their deceased father. I know the deceased was their biological father, the respondents know this fact but they choose to deny the children their rights."

Osugo served as the prison's boss between 2008 and 2019.