Married woman: Former lover disappeared with my child for four months

A woman has been reunited by her child who went missing four months ago from her parents’ home in Homa Bay County. According to the mother of the child,29, her ex-lover took the boy for a haircut without her consent on February 4 this year, never to be seen. After frantic search, the boy was found in Kakamega County on Tuesday June 8, at the home of the woman's lover.

The married woman had quit her marriage in November 2018 after a series of domestic squabbles with her husband. Following the split, she moved to her parents’ home in Homa Bay County, where she a new man. At the time, he was employed as a herdsman.

After dating for some time, the woman delivered a baby boy, the man claimed paternity of the child and was ready to marry his mother. But the couple fell out over the woman’s other children with her estranged husband.  

The woman explained that she was not ready to marry her new man because he did not accept her other three children.

“He wanted me with my last born son but hated my other three children. I decided to stop our relationship because he did not welcome my other children,” she told The Nairobian.

Adding that the baby belongs to her estranged husband who lives in Rongo.

“It is the mother who knows the father of a child. Truth be told, this child belongs to my husband. Even his sir name in the birth certificate reads my husband’s name,” she said.

According to the woman, on February 4 this year, Moguru took the boy to a barber shop but never brought him back. After futile search, she recorded a statement at Homa Bay Police Station, according to Aloys Orioki, county staff officer in charge of operations.

But after months of searching, the mother of the child accompanied by Evance Oloo, a human rights activist based in Homa Bay County, secured a letter from the Homa Bay Sub-county children’s department and moved the search to Lugari where the man's parents live.

They collaborated with local chiefs and police who led them to the man’s home, where they found the child.

“I am happy to be reunited with my child. We have established that he is the one who stole the child. I am waiting for my husband to come so that we can iron out differences for us to resume our marriage,” the woman said.

Meanwhile, police are urging her to report on the progress of her case, for legal action to be taken against the suspect.

“It is a habit that people only record statements when their property gets lost but they don’t report back when they recover them. Let the lady come back to the station record a statement on recovery of the child to enable us take the necessary legal actions,” Orioki said.