The 45-year-old high school teacher moved to court seeking compensation after his 43 year-old wife eloped and got “married” to another man.
An appeals court sitting in Kisumu has ordered an estranged wife to refund dowry to her former husband.
The estranged husband, will now be smiling all the way to the bank after a court of appeal seating in Kisumu upheld a Kisii High Court ruling that he be refunded dowry paid to the woman’s family.
The 45-year-old high school teacher moved to court seeking compensation after his 43 year-old wife eloped and got “married” to another man.
He had paid for her college fee and even dowry and had stayed with the wife for 5 years before she walked out of their marriage with two children.
The court dismissed a case challenging a ruling which granted James Mayaka, a secondary school teacher, a divorce and also ordered that the wife partially refund the dowry he had paid for her as well as college fees.
DEVOID OF MERIT
In their ruling, a three appellate judge bench that comprised of lady justice Wanjiru Karanja, Festus Azangalala and S. Gatembu Kairu, ruled that the application was devoid of merit.
In a judgment delivered on February 17, 2015, by Judge Chrispin Nangila on behalf of Judge Ruth Sitati, of the Kisii High Court the court decreed that the marriage between James Mayaka and Ms Everline Kerubo, be dissolved as a result of a divorce suit that had been filed by Mayaka.
In the divorce suit, Mayaka, through his lawyers, Sagwe and Co. Advocates, said his wife, whom he married in 2004, left him for another man in 2009, five years into their marriage.
“She left our matrimonial home barely 5 years after we exchanged vows, we had not had any issues by then that would have made her leave, she just left freely,” said Mayaka, a high school teacher.
Mayaka wanted the court to order Kerubo to pay back the 209,000 shillings he paid for her in college fees and another 120,000 shillings he paid as dowry.
HALF FOR EACH CATEGORY
The court however, ordered Kerubo to refund half the amount for each category; Sh104,500 for college fees and Sh60,000 for dowry totaling to 164,500 shillings.
However, the figure rose to Sh205, 000 after interest was factored in.
In an interview, Mayaka said he is now a happy man and that justice has been done.
“Huwezi lisha Ng’ombe mwenginne akamue? ” (You can’t feed your cow for someone to milk) ,Mayaka posed.
He said he intends to invest the refund wisely after engaging financial experts.
Asked whether he could forgive his estranged wife, Mayaka said as a person he can forgive as the bible says, but he cannot allow her back to their matrimonial home since he feels betrayed.
He said he is yet to decide whether to re-marry but wants to take time.
Mayaka added his estranged wife got married to a witchdoctor who is a polygamist with nine wives and stays in Kisii county.
He maintained that her departure has made him more comfortable.
He advices other men to take time to know the type of woman before investing in her.
By KNA
-nairobinews.nation.co.ke
Oh my gosh. Women can be ordered to repay dowry! After how many years of marriage? Also, what about when the wife gives the husband everything she earns and he elopes and marries another woman? What about when the wife gave her husband more than $8,000 USD to build their only home in Kenya and he goes about marrying other women> The law supports men, but not women evidently. The laws in Kenya are very unjust toward women because if a man does the same thing this woman did, the law supports it and agrees he can do it and repay nothing and even take everything from his
‘first’ or ‘second’ or ‘third’ or more families and give to the ‘younger’ wife. What fairness is there in that to then make women repay dowry for marrying another man when men have to do nothing to support families they already have. There is no fairness and no justice for women in Kenya, only for men, I am sorry to say.
Laugh all you want if money is the only thing you care about. More importantly, what happens to men who cheat on their wife? Do they ever have any responsibility. The law even allows them to keep adding wives inadfinitum. The male judge should be ashamed that he is punishing a woman for doing exactly what Kenyan husbands do all the time, with no punishment. Actually, the men do not have to support their families, they just shame women and keep on going, even when they are the cheaters. They never have to pay anything; but most women are not about the money–only the men. The women just want a faithful husband. But the has made it legal for a man to be unfaithful and never have to even support his other ‘family’ that he abandoned. Be ashamed of that because it is shameful!
The Kenyan laws are totally unjust on this matter and should be challenged Constitutionally. Even this case because if the man was a cheater nothing would have happened to him. I am sorry this man’s wife cheated on him, but if it had been the other way around, nothing at all would have happened. Women are punished under Kenyan law for infidelity but not Kenyan men. Shame, shame, shame.
Laugh all you want if money is the only thing you care about. More importantly, what happens to men who cheat on their wife? Do they ever have any responsibility. The law even allows them to keep adding wives inadfinitum. The male judge should be ashamed that he is punishing a woman for doing exactly what Kenyan husbands do all the time, with no punishment. Actually, the men do not have to support their families, they just shame women and keep on going, even when they are the cheaters. They never have to pay anything; but most women are not about the money–only the men. The women just want a faithful husband. But the unjust law has made it legal for a man to be unfaithful and never have to even support his other ‘family’ that he abandoned. Be ashamed of that because it is shameful!
The Kenyan laws are totally unjust on this matter and should be challenged Constitutionally. Even this case because if the man was a cheater nothing would have happened to him. I am sorry this man’s wife cheated on him, but if it had been the other way around, nothing at all would have happened. Women are punished under Kenyan law for infidelity but not Kenyan men. Shame, shame, shame.