Drama as ‘dead’ husband turns up in court in child support case
The front view of Eldoret chief magistrate's court.
Drama unfolded in an Eldoret court when it emerged that a woman who had sued her newfound lover for the upkeep of two sons she had sired with her husband, had faked the latter’s death.
The ‘dead’ father appeared before Eldoret Senior Resident Magistrate Christine Menya, wondering why his wife had sued another man for child support yet he was alive and had been fending for his children.
The sued man, on the other hand, said he was only a lover of the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teacher.
“I am surprised and I am wondering why this woman has sued me for the upkeep of the children of another man who is here in this court,” he said.
“If anything, I was only a side lover who had been helping her by paying school fees for her children before I parted ways with her upon realising that her husband was alive, contrary to what she had told me when we met,” the 70-year-old engineer told the court.
The furious man told the court that he has three wives and 17 children.
But the woman, identified as MCR, was defiant, accusing her husband of interfering with her plans to get the children a proper education with support from her financially endowed new lover.
Irresponsible
She accused her husband of being irresponsible and dumping her and their two children and only to resurface in court to shame her.
“The man who is boasting here to be my husband is an irresponsible man who has abdicated his duty as a husband, forcing me to look for other men to fend for his children,” she said.
“Ask him if he has any receipt to show that he has been paying school fees for our children who are in secondary schools in Bungoma and Uasin Gishu County.”
She told the court that she was surprised to see the man, wondering where her new lover found him.
The magistrate asked her why she wanted the man to take care of the children of another man who was capable of fending for his children.
She responded that her new lover was a man of means who loved her and committed to help her children.
The teacher told the court that her new lover had added his family name to the names of her children on their birth certificates, an allegation that the accused denied.
Changing the names
“I cannot ever remember changing the names of the said children. I only came in to help this woman in 2017 when she told me that her husband had died and she wanted someone who could help her meet the needs of her children and that is what I did,” he told the court, insisting that he wasn’t married to the woman and that she was only his “side chic”.
He regretted that his good gesture of helping a woman in need had become a source of shame and disgrace for a senior citizen of his calibre.
The retired engineer told the court that he had immediately separated from the woman in 2021 upon establishing that her husband was still alive and had relocated his family to his rural home in Bunyore.
“I am married to three wives with 17 children. The woman who has sued me was just a side lover I met in 2017 and after staying with her for three years, we parted ways and I went back to my family,” he told the court.
The woman’s husband told the court that he was ready to reconcile with his wife and start taking care of his children, including paying their school fees.
Nagging this old man
“I am ready to go back home to my wife and start taking care of my children as her husband. My entire family and her family know me as her husband. I am wondering why she is nagging this old man,” he said.
The woman responded that she was not interested in men.
“I have no need for men. I only need upkeep for my children,” she told the court.
The court directed the biological father to start taking care of his children. He agreed and promised to pay their school fees balance by the end of this month.
The two men drove away from the court in one car, chatting joyfully.
The case will be mentioned on May 31 for further directions.
