Eldoret court directs woman to pay upkeep for husband's children with former lover

An Eldoret court has ordered a businessman's wife and their two sons to pay school fees and provide Sh 10,000 monthly maintenance upkeep for two minors aged five and two that the businessman sired with his lover.

The court ordered them to provide for the minors' needs since the three are administrators of the man's vast estate.

DNA tests carried out proved that the minors were fathered by the businessman.

Senior Resident Magistrate Emily Kigen, who was presiding over the family case, also directed that the minor's mother cater for her son's utility bills, provide home, clothing, food, house help as well as security for the minors.

"The respondents shall enroll the minors to the NHIF medical cover, pay school fees for the minors at an affordable/modest school to be agreed upon by both parties," ordered the magistrate.

In the matter which has been pending at the court since 2021, the minor's mother, a 29-year-old woman, had told the court she had sired the two children with the 74-year-old businessman.

However, the businessman's wife who is the estate administrator of her husband's property, alongside her two sons, had dismissed the minor's paternity, saying the children were not her husband's biological children.

They told the court that the businessman would not handle the court case as well as manage his estate as he is unwell.

Confirm paternity

The court had then ordered for DNA tests to be conducted to confirm the paternity of the minors.

The exercise, which was to take place at the KEMRI lab, however, took months since an exchange of words would be witnessed every time the two parties met at the facility.

The magistrate had also questioned how the DNA tests would proceed if the man was unwell. His lawyer Karen Chesoo, however, told the court the family would ensure the man is taken for the tests at the KEMRI laboratories in Eldoret town.

"We need to determine the issue of paternity before we can proceed with this matter. My only worry is how we are going to get samples from a man who is unwell," asked the magistrate before directing that the minors and their said father be presented at the Kemri labs within two weeks.

The minor's mother, AJ, had moved to court seeking Sh300,000 monthly upkeep for her children and payment of Sh209,000 to clear pending arrears accruing from her bills. She said in her statement that she had cohabited with her alleged husband from 2012 until early 2021 when he fell ill and was admitted to hospital.

She said they had been living at their matrimonial home in Elgon View estate, Eldoret.

She further told the court that when her husband was discharged from hospital in April 2021, the first wife and her children forced him into a car and drove him to their home in Nandi and blocked her and her children from accessing her husband.

"The defendants have been so cruel to me by not allowing the children to even visit my ailing husband," said AJ in her complaint.