A 42-year-old Nairobi businessman got a rude shock when his wife of 15 years declared that he was not the biological father of their three children.
Mr XYZ (name withheld to protect the children’s identities) was told in open divorce court yesterday by his wife that he is not the father of their three children aged between three and 15.
The 40-year-old woman is opposing a plea by the man that he be given custody of the children after their marriage collapsed.
“The plaintiff is not the biological father nor has he produced any adoption order in this court to show that he is the father,” the woman said in her affidavit filed in court.
She added: “In the absence of this, the plaintiff therefore cannot claim to be the father of the minors.”
The woman says her husband is a stranger to her children and they don’t want to see him.
According to the suit papers filed by the woman, the businessman has not been supporting the three children. Instead, the woman says, the children have been supported by their biological fathers.
She asked the court to order DNA tests on the minors and the businessman to establish paternity.
“A DNA test should be conducted to confirm that indeed the plaintiff is a stranger to the minors,” said the woman.
Also sought by the woman is an order to have the biological fathers of her three children enjoined in the case.
The woman wants the case filed by the man seeking custody of the three children dismissed, saying it lacks merit.
She says the man cannot purport to have acquired parental responsibility in view of existing case law.
Her lawyer, Danstan Omari Mogaka, asked the court to treat the matter with urgency because the minors are being sought by the businessman who is not their father, thus traumatising and hurting them emotionally.
According to birth certificates produced in court the name of the father of all the three children is Mr XYZ’s, who is now said to be not the biological father.
The first child was born in Embu Hospital in 1999, the second at Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, in 2001, and the third at Nairobi Hospital in 2011.
Mr XYZ married the woman in a church ceremony in 1999, but they are now separated. He also supports the plea to have the fathers in question come on board in the case.
He asked the court to allow him to respond to the allegations raised by the woman only after the other men who are said to be the biological fathers of the children are enjoined in the matter. The court granted the order to enjoin the other men.
– the-star.co.ke
