On Monday, May 30, 2022, the Children's Court in Eldoret made a landmark decision in favor of a widower, EJM, who had been fighting to regain custody of his children taken away by his in-laws following his wife's death.
Senior Resident Magistrate Christine Menya directed EJM to assume custody of his two children after the death of their mother three months prior. The court's decision was made after the two minors, through their father, applied for custody.
The children, aged 15 and 10, had been living with their maternal relatives in their rural home in Uasin Gishu, but they expressed a strong desire to live with their father at their residential home in Eldoret.
During the court proceedings, the minors testified that they were more comfortable living with their father and that they were being subjected to brutality from their maternal relatives.
"We do not want to stay with our aunty and grandmother. They do not love us like our dad," said one of the minors.
The court observed that the maternal relatives did not have a solid relationship with the children and that it was against the custom of their community to take away children from their father's home while they were still mourning their mother.
The magistrate noted that the order was meant to safeguard the best interests of the children and certified the order urgent, saying the children's education had been interrupted by the tug of war between the parties.
The court ordered the defendant not to interfere with the children's education and vested the actual custody of the minors in the plaintiff pending the hearing and determination of the application and the main suit.
