This archive report was first published on 25 September 2019.
On July 31, two girls and a boy aged 12, 6, and 4 years respectively, were reported missing from Makongeni estate in Nairobi.
The children's father, Nahashon Mwangi, told Citizen Digital that his wife, Ruth Wairimu, had joined a religion he considered 'heresy' and had allegedly taken the children with her.
According to the Miriam Webster Dictionary, a heretic is someone who differs in opinion from established religious dogma.
Mr. Mwangi said his wife had insisted that their new religion did not allow the children to continue with education and that she had been ordered to leave her matrimonial home and live in seclusion.
On the day schools closed for the August holiday, she allegedly disappeared with the children, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions.
After a two-month search, the children were finally found in a rented house in Thika, where they had been living with Mr. Mwangi's parents-in-law.
The children were taken to a children's home in Thika, and their mother was arrested and charged with denying them their rights to education, a crime in Kenya.
Area chief Simon Kamau said the children will remain at Macheo Children's Home until the court rules otherwise.
