Seven children in Eldoret wailed uncontrollably in court yesterday after a magistrate ordered them to be in the custody of their mother.
Eldoret Children Court magistrate Stella Telewa ruled the children should be in the custody of their mother, Joyce Mutoro, who has been in a legal dispute with her husband Jack Mutoro over custody of the children.
The couple separated over claims of the wife’s infidelity.
Joyce went to court seeking to have custody of the children, who have been living with their father. The court ruled that he should surrender them to their mother.
However, when the verdict was interpreted to the children outside the court, they caused drama as they cried saying they did not want to live with their mother.
Mutoro asked the children to go with their mother as ordered by the court, but they wailed, attracting a huge crowd of people who were near the court.
The children vowed to stick with their father despite the ruling. Asked why they wanted to stick with their father, some of the children said they felt safe in the custody of Mutoro.
“We don’t want our mother and we will still go to live with our father,” said one of the children.
They accused their mother of abandoning them after the separation and insisted that they could only trust their father.
Mutoro had told the court he separated from the woman, accusing her of cheating on him. He claimed the woman had a relationship with a teacher at their home near Soy in Kakamega county.
“I was even forced to demolish our house and let her go to the other man,” said Mutoro.
But the woman denied the allegations and accused Mutoro of telling lies to attract sympathy.
The two parties, with their lawyers, were forced to go back to the court where the children were allowed to stay with their father in the meantime.
Mutoro said the decision of the court was unfair to the children. He said he will appeal against the court verdict and is ready to take care of the children aged between 10 and 17 years.
One of the children threatened to commit suicide by taking poison if he was forcefully separated from her father.