The High Court has ordered the registrar of births and deaths to remove the name of a man from a minor’s birth certificate after two DNA tests proved that he was not the father.
At the same time, Justice Kizito Magare ordered the mother to pay him Sh 75,000 for the cost of the case she filed.
She argued that he should continue paying upkeep, as he had allegedly been doing so from birth.
The woman, code-named LKM, had filed a case against the man condenamed RMB before the magistrate’s court. Nevertheless, she lost before the lower court, prompting her to move to the High Court.
Justice Magare said that she was too overzealous in entrapping the man she alleged to have had several escapades with after meeting him in a cybercafé.
“ The appellant misled the Registrar of Deaths and Birth to register the respondent as the father, when the same was not correct. I am satisfied that the registration was done fraudulently and not supported by evidence,” said Justice Magare.
Adding that, “The appellant has viciously fought the respondent, in spite of DNA results from two institution’s confirming that the Respondent is excluded as a father. There was no justification in relentlessly seeking to entrap the respondent,”
In her case, LKM claimed that she had cohabited with RMB from 2012 until sometime in 2015. In her case filed in 2017, she claimed that the reason for parting ways was that he was allegedly cruel and violent.
RMB, on the other hand, denied that he ever married LKM asserting that he never fathered the minor.
The court ordered for a DNA test. The first report was filed on February 14, 2018 indicating that there was no connection between the man and the child in question.
Six months later, the court again ordered for a second test. The results were the same.
The magistrate’s court summarily threw out the case on December 21, 2021 following the two reports.
Aggrieved, LKM moved to the High Court which reinstated the case.
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In her case, she alleged that RBM was the father and had failed to take care of the minor. She claimed that mobile money transactions were showing that he was sending her rent.
The woman, however, admitted that the DNA tests had exonerated the man.
LKM called a clan elder to testify on her behalf. The elder alleged that RBM had sent Sh 5,300 on March 23, 2017 when the dispute was before the chief. According to the elder, the money was meant for rent.
The other witness was a property manager. He stated that he knew LKM as she was a tenant and that they issued receipts for rent paid by RBM.
RBM testified that he had never lived with LKM as she alleged. He stated that his identification card was stolen sometime in 2016, and he reported the same to the police.
According to him, all the materials produced in court by LKM were forgeries.
He, however told the court that he only met LKM while studying for PhD. Adding that he sent money to a village elder who was meant to give directions on the dispute that had been lodged at the chief’s office.
Dr. Charles Maina, another witness, testified that he was a Pathologist and produced the report carried out on March 3, 2020 which excluded the RBMt as a biological father of the child.
In the meantime, LKM also asked the court to compel RBM to assume responsibility. She claimed that he informally agreed to take care of the minor from 2015 until 2016.
However, Justice Magare said that she had not argued about the responsibility issue before the lower court.
He said that there was no evidence to show that he actually committed or took care of them as she had alleged.
“ There was no evidence that the Respondent carried out any of the duties on the minor after knowing that they are not biologically related. The respondent maintained that the appellant was a fraudster who prepared the birth certificate from the documents robbed from his house.,” he said.
He ordered that she should pay the Sh 75,000 within 45 days.
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