Police and DCI apprehend a woman in Malaba who has been defying court orders

By Our Reporter The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) working with police in Mombasa apprehended a woman in Malaba who has routinely defied court orders to share custody of a minor with his father in line with court ruling on the matter four months ago. The woman who doubles up as the minors mother as well as a litigant in a child custody case with her former lover was granted the child by a Mombasa High Court to share his custody equally with the father but vanished with the child, prompting a court sanctioned search for her that took four months. Our sources indicate that the child, upon his rescue was suffering from a persistent cough and had an ugly red patch on his chest which prompted the police to release him to the care of his father so that he can get emergency medical attention. The woman, upon being presented in court to the duty judge, Lady Justice Anne Onginyo was ordered, to appear before court on 16th of September along with the child and a comprehensive medical report on his condition for further direction. A new counsel, a Mr. J.M Makau representing her applied for her release on bond which was granted by the court on the strength of his lawyers undertaking in spite of the fathers advocate, Mr. Lawrence Obonyo, who argued that her contemptuous court record as well as her denying the child his education, medicare and access to his father were an indication that she will fail to honor the court yet again. The father of the woman also attempted to address the court attempting to explain his daughter’s failure to honor a court ruling. He was instructed to appear before the judge on the sixteenth where he would be granted an audience before the court gives direction on the case. This case, involving an errant litigant who has time and again completely disregarded the rule of law involves a minor making it a matter of urgency according to the law which in cases like this rule according to the best interest of the child. It remains to be seen whether the judiciary, with records in court indicating that the woman is mentally unstable will rule in the minor’s best interest and end the agony he has been undergoing for the past four months. It is the fourth time she has been arrested with the child in tow and every time she gets released making a mockery of the law and the judges she appears before. It is obvious that, the child suffers whenever he is entrusted to her, with the minors health regressing and his education terminated because she will take off with him jut to spite his father. It was hoped that justice for the minor would be served after Mombasa High Court Judge Margaret Njoki Mwangi ordered the police to assist in tracing her whereabouts of the woman and the child and produce them before the duty judge on the 31 of August 11, 2021. The woman who violated a penal warning that failure to comply with the shared custody arrangement put in place by the court would risk a fine and or imprisonment. The child who should be in school and has missed his vaccinations is at the center of a legal tussle between his parents, with the mother, a mtwapa resident battling for his custody with the father, a former British intelligence officer. Records in court regarding the case indicate there was a mental examination application to assess the stability of the woman which the judge also ignored. In challenging the mental state of mind of the Briton’s affidavit states that she has threatened to kill him and further accusing his lawyer of being a rapist and a kidnapped for representing him in evidence recorded on mobile phone and submitted to the court. Police have also at one point raided a private residence in Mtwapa in what our sources indicate was search for a minor abducted after a court order placed her into his mother’s custody. The raid caused commotion which lasted the batter of three hours in which police forced entry into the premises after a tip off that the child was hidden within the compound. Among these were reports from medical experts warning there might be physical and psychological risk involved in pacing the child with the mother which the court also failed to act upon.