The High Court has ordered the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret to include a man said to have been fathered by a priest in the distribution of the priest’s estate, stating that children are entitled to inheritance regardless of the circumstances of their birth.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi found that the evidence presented in court established that DK, born on July 4, 2003, is the biological son of the late Father JKN, who died in July 2015.
The priest had appointed the late Bishop Cornelius Korir as the executor of his will. However, Bishop Korir died in October 2017 before completing the administration of the estate, and his successor, Bishop Dominic Kimengich, took over.
The late Catholic Bishop Cornelius Korir.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The matter took a new turn when DK’s mother, NJR, objected to the exclusion of her son from the list of beneficiaries. The administrators of the estate MN and MWN, opposed the application, arguing that Father JKN was an ordained Catholic priest who had taken vows of celibacy and could not have fathered a child.
Justice Nyakundi, however, held that the evidence, including DK’s birth certificate naming the priest as his father and the mother’s testimony, proved paternity on a balance of probabilities. The court declared that the birth certificate issued on March 12, 2008, identifies the priest as DK’s biological father.
Justice Nyakundi further ruled that children born from relationships outside marriage are legitimate beneficiaries of their parents’ estates and that a written Will cannot be used to defeat their constitutional rights.
“The children born from such continuum relationships like DK are legitimate and are entitled to inherit their parents’ property, both movable and immovable, and no written Will of the deceased should be used as a shield ... to defeat the existence of those rights,” the judge said.
The court directed the administrators of the estate to give DK a share of the inheritance within 60 days. Failure to comply, it said, will result in the revocation of the grant of probate and fresh succession proceedings.
The judge noted that although paternity is ordinarily a matter of medical science, the respondents failed to rebut the evidence presented by the objector (NJR).
The court also rejected an application seeking the exhumation of the priest’s body for DNA sampling, saying such an order would unnecessarily interfere with the privacy rights of other people.
From mentorship to romance
In her testimony, NJR told the court she met Father JKN in 1993 when he was teaching at Moi University. She said the relationship evolved over the years from mentorship into romance.
She testified that the priest supported her education, helped her secure employment and later provided financial support during her pregnancy and after the birth of their son, including paying rent, school fees and household expenses.
According to her evidence, the priest ensured his name appeared on the child’s birth certificate, regularly visited the child and remained in contact with them even after she relocated to Canada in 2012.
She also produced an agreement allegedly signed between the priest’s family and herself acknowledging their relationship, the child and proposing that DK be allocated a parcel of land in Nyandarua to settle the dispute.
A witness called by NJR corroborated her account and maintained under cross-examination that the priest and the objector had been in a romantic relationship.
Court held that the evidence, including DK’s birth certificate naming the priest as his father and the mother’s testimony, proved paternity on a balance of probabilities.
The administrators of the estate insisted the priest had faithfully observed his vow of chastity and pointed to the Catholic funeral rites accorded to him after his death as evidence of his standing in the church.
However, Justice Nyakundi said the respondents had presented no direct evidence regarding the priest’s private life.
“I have carefully analysed the evidence of the objector and her witnesses about the intimate relationship she had with the deceased, notwithstanding the vows of celibacy taken during his ordination,” he said.
The judge added that while Father JKN had taken vows of celibacy as a Catholic priest, those vows did not extinguish his constitutional right to privacy or prevent the court from recognising the legal consequences of a consensual relationship.
