Mother battles for son's custody with American

A Kenyan woman is embroiled in a court battle with an American over the custody of her seven-year-old son. [Getty Images]

A Kenyan woman is embroiled in a court battle with an American over the custody of her seven-year-old son.

The woman code-named TK claims that the boy's father, who lives in the United States and is code-named CAD, abandoned them in 2019, hence she ought to be granted custody of the child.

She argues that the minor is already learning in one of the best international schools in Kenya and should not be made to leave the country.

TK says she is currently running family businesses in Kenya and can single-handedly take care of the minor’s basic needs. She asserts that the child is Kenyan and has known the country to be his home.

“The minor is a child of tender years who requires my care and attention, I therefore pray that this honorable court grants me sole custody care and control of the minor since I am fully resident in Kenya and have been taking care of the minor since 2019,” argues TK.

TK states she left America for Kenya as she could fend for the child and herself after CAD moved out.

On the other hand, CAD wants the custody case be heard and determined in America.

According to him, there are two cases; one which he filed and another one by TK before the American courts.

He claims that the court case will deny him an opportunity to raise his son.

Initially, the man was battling with the child’s grandmother who argued that he should not raise the minor, code-named RD, in the USA.

The grandmother claimed her grandson and daughter were abandoned while he was two years old.

“In December 2018, the respondent informed the Appellant's daughter that he would not go ahead with the marriage and would stop paying the rent for the apartment in January 2019. He implemented that decision with the effect from March 1, 2019,” said RD’s grandmother.

In the case, the grandmother code-named MW said she was concerned that her grandson would have no one to take care of him as her daughter was out of work.

“The appellant has demonstrated that indeed both factually and according to law, the minor needs care and has needed care since February 23, 2019, when the respondent walked out on him and the mother without resources thereby morally leaving the appellant as the only person who could fill the vacuum of parental responsibility,” argued MW.

MW stated that her daughter left a well-paying job to take care of her son and was certain that she would be married to CAD in 2019 in Kenya. However, according to her, CAD who was then living in his daughter’s house, walked away.

“At the time the minor was born, the Appellant's daughter and the Respondent were living in her daughter's apartment in New York, USA; the Respondent moved into that flat because he did not have his own house. He had always been a licensee of his mother who has a house in New York,” said MW.

The case will be heard today.