This archive report was first published on 30 June 2020.
On June 30, 2020, a woman's emotional plea for justice brought the Milimani Law Courts to a standstill. Mary Kwamboka Onyancha, a young mother, accused a Supreme Court judge of fathering her 6-year-old daughter and neglecting her financial responsibilities.
According to court documents, Kwamboka met the judge in 2013 at a church, and their brief affair resulted in the birth of their daughter on April 21, 2014. However, the judge allegedly refused to acknowledge paternity and provide child support, leaving Kwamboka to bear the financial burden alone.
‘Upon the birth of the minor, the plaintiff requested the defendant for child support, but the defendant adamantly refused and denied paternity of the minor,’ Kwamboka stated in her court papers.
The plaintiff claims that the judge, who was a lower court judge at the time, ‘frustrated all the efforts by the plaintiff to reach out to him for child support.’ Kwamboka further alleges that she has not received a single coin in child support from the judge, leaving her to provide for their daughter's basic needs.
The woman is seeking a monthly child support of Ksh161, 600, which would cover expenses such as food, clothing, house rent, school fees, medical expenses, a house-help, and entertainment for the child.
‘The defendant is a man of means as he is currently a judge of the Supreme Court, and should not have a problem maintaining the minor as per the claim above,’ Kwamboka argued.
The lawsuit, filed at the Children’s Court in Milimani, also seeks to declare Kwamboka the sole custodian of the child.
