Mutunga can finally divorce estranged wife

By Judy Ogutu

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has been granted divorce by the High Court.

High Court Judge Justice G B M Kariuki granted him divorce from his estranged wife on grounds of cruelty.

The Judge dismissed a cross-petition that had been filed by his estranged wife, Prof Beverle Michele Lax.
In his divorce petition, Dr Mutunga had accused Lax of treating him with “cruelty” since they got married in 2000.

The CJ married Lax, an American scholar, on July 20, 2000 in San Mateo in the US and he filed for divorce on December 16, 2009.

Mutunga in his application had described the estranged wife as a person of ‘ungoverned’ temper. The CJ also claimed that she had physically and verbally assaulted him.

During the entire duration of the marriage, the court heard that, Lax allegedly referred to Mutunga’s former wife, daughter and son as parasites yet she knew calling them names caused him immense pain and torture.
destroying thesis

Dr Mutunga had also taken issue with his estranged wife for destroying his academic thesis, which touched on Landlord/Tenant relationships in Kenya.

Mutunga told the court that in 2003, Lax while knowing that he had only one copy of the document, tore up, mutilated and destroyed it. He said the action, was intended to cause him maximum psychological, emotional and intellectual pain.

The scholar responded to the divorce petition on May 13, 2010 and also filed a cross-petition for divorce.

In response, Lax denied some of Dr Mutunga’s allegations and instead accused him of being a “pathological liar”.

In the cross-petition, she had also claimed Mutunga had a violent and uncaring attitude towards her.

She alleged that the CJ had concealed the existence of his relationship with women whom he had sired children with.
Lax had further alleged that Mutunga concealed financial aid to children from his first marriage.

The CJ had two sons with two women in 1993 and 1999 and in the divorce he had insisted that Lax knew about it.

He claimed that his estranged wife persisted in abusing the two boys and their mothers although he had always made it clear that the two women understood that his only relationship with them is strictly with regard to maintenance of his sons.

The CJ also said in the petition that he had helped Lax through her recovery when she underwent surgery at Stanford University Medical School.

She had accused him of wanting her dead when she underwent the surgery.

Mutunga told the court that he had helped her through her recovery for over six weeks and was at her bedside for the five days she was admitted to hospital.