•The Kenyan obtained a court order against his former wife's access to the child.
•Lawyer denies that any court papers were served on the Briton until June 7, 2017, by email.
Image: FILE
A child custody row between a British and Kenyan has taken a new twist after it emerged that some orders and summons from Kenya courts took over a year to be served in the United Kingdom.
In documents through lawyer Patrick Kahonge, Charlotte Victoria Morris claims that her estranged husband, Shiv Singh Benawra, has not obtained any custody orders for their four-year-old son in Kenya, contrary to earlier reports.
In August 2016, Shiv, through his lawyer Danston Omari, filed a case at the children’s court, accusing Victoria of subjecting the child to violence and sought custody.
Early this week, Shiv claimed to have received orders for custody at senior Resident Magistrate B. Kituyi’s court.
But Kahonge says that no orders for custody, either inter-party or ex-parte, have been issued. “What came up was the mention of an application opposing his travel to India with the baby, of which we already obtained injunction orders last year.”
Shiv had got an order that his ex-wife should only access the child in Kenya under court supervision.
Kahonge says no orders or court papers had been served on his client until June 7, 2017, this time by email.
The orders, related to chamber summons dated May 25, 2017, which was not served to Victoria.
Back in the UK, where the custody cases were first filed by Shiv, at least four pending orders against him to return the minor are still in force.
He is accused of having retained the minor in Nairobi from June 2016, in flagrant breach of a UK court order and without permission from the mother.
The High Court orders in the UK to return the child were made on October 10, 2017, renewed on November 10, 2017, and on January 17, and March 14, 2018, and later on April 23, 2018.
On Tuesday, Omari said any orders purporting to be emanating from the UK courts are null and void.
“My client has been given full child custody. The child’s mother came and protested the order and lost at the children’s court and High Court. Under the Kenyan law, it does not stop a Kenyan court to proceed to hear the matter if the child is a Kenyan or under the Kenyan jurisdiction. Under international law, the same protects the father,” said Omari.
Victoria came to Kenya on May 25, 2017, and filed a defence and counterclaim on June 21, 2017.
“The father wants to pursue his dreams in India and wants to leave with the son, against orders issued in UK. The defendant, is prepared to fly to Kenya and pick her son, and live with him in England where he will receive a good, free and quality education, as well as quality medical care,” notes Kahonge in the suit papers.
Shiv had filed a case in the UK on November 2015, at the Family Court in Chelmsford and was granted supervisory access once a month on January 26, 2016.
A variation to this order allowed Shiv to bring the minor to Kenya to meet his family for 60 days, with the wife’s permission. The minor was barely one and a half years old by then.
When he failed to return the minor, and after alleged failed attempts by Victoria to pick the child, she reported to the police in England about abduction, went to a solicitor where they filed a case in the Royal Court of Justice.
Shiv, filed his defence and counterclaim on July 28, 2017, but after three days of hearing and submission of evidence by both parties, the court was satisfied that Shiv was in breach of court orders and issued a severe penal notice, and also made an order making the child a ward of the court.
Shiv, a singer, actor and model of Indian origin, and who is based in Kenya, presented his evidence via telephone.
In Kenya, there were two court dates during Victoria’s eight days stay but both ended in adjournments.
The child is a British national and lived in England from birth until April 2016. His parents married in 2013 but the mother relocated to the UK in July 2014. The father joined her in September 2014 until 2015 when they separated.
In Kenya, Shiv applied for full custody of the child and an exclusion order to prevent the mother from returning to the UK with the child.
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