Kenyan, US courts grant man custody of 1-year-old

In a historic decision, a Kenyan court and a United States of America court have allowed a man to keep custody of his boy aged one year and ten months.

The two courts which are far apart came to the same conclusion that one Engineer Imani Manyara, with a dual citizenship, shall have solely physical custody of the minor.

Custodial orders

Manyara obtained the custodial orders from the two courts of his son following a martial row with his estranged wife Lydia Onkoba who is a medical practitioner currently in Texas.

When seeking custodial orders Manyara, a resident of Wake County North Carolina accused his wife of being cruel to their son.

He also claimed that his wife has a mental challenge and can not be entrusted with the custody of the young boy.

“I believe that the defendant (the mother) is not mentally stable and therefore unfit to take care of the minor interest,” Manyara told Nairobi children’s court magistrate Maureen Wanjiru Kibe.

Detailing the extent of cruelty, the father of the boy told the court that his wife was not fit to raise the minor since she used to inflict physical injuries.

” The defendant (the mother) has never been a loving and responsible parent to the minor. She severally left the minor unattended to for hours, locking him up in a separate room, physically disciplining him despite the minor’s tender age and even destroying the minor’s clothes and her clothes as well,” Manyara stated in his pleadings filed in court.

According to Manyara, his relationship with his estranged wife Onkoba went sour when the child was hardly six months old.

In a bid to resolve their difference, the couple who were living in Wake County North Carolina flew back to Kenya on January 1, 2023, to meet their families to seek reconciliation.

During the two-week vacation in Kenya Manyara claims that the minor was whisked away by his wife to an undisclosed location within Kenya and denied access to the child.

“Efforts to reconcile me and Onkoba were made but have completely failed. It also happens that Onkoba’s family during one of the meetings to reconcile us confessed that the trip to Kenya was only used to separate me from the minor, ” Manyara told the court.

He adds that he was frustrated by his wife and her family members compelling him to fly back to North Carolina to seek legal redress for his son.

“It was upon contacting authorities for assistance to locate the minor in the United States upon suspecting that the Onkoba might have travelled back with the minor to the United States that l was informed that she went back to the USA however without the minor and that she had relocated to Texas,” Manyara states.

Child with Grandma

After further investigations, he established through his family that he resides with the grandmother of his estranged wife in Kenya.

” I reiterate that the Onkoba and her family have completely denied me and my family access to my son which violates both the child and my rights. They have shown extreme hostility against me which l believe is also being extended to the child,” the court heard.

The Milimani magistrate court allowed Manyara’s plea to keep the child just as he was allowed to stay with the child by Justice James Bedford of Wake County North Carolina.

Justice Bedford in his ruling category states that the father can be entrusted with the custody of the minor who had been left in Kenya under the care of a grandmother whom the court doubt had the best interest of the child.

In America, the judge also allowed the mother to see her son for 30 minutes only due to her mental status and should give a day’s notice for arrangements to be made for her visit.

The parties are granted temporary joint legal custody of the child.

” The Mother must provide the father a written notice of her intention to exercise her custodial time in writing(text or email), 14 days prior to the day the Mother intends to visit. The Mother must remain within 30 minutes of Wake County at all times that the minor child is in her custody,” ordered Justice Bedford.

The judge further ordered the manual to solely have the authority to maintain the child’s travel documentation and collect the child from Kenya for transport back to the United States.

“The Father has the sole authority to apply for a passport in the child’s name without the Mother’s signature, ” Justice Bedford said.

The American court also directed that both parents shall make decisions for the child including schooling and medical care, together.

The judge also ordered the day-to-day decisions shall be made by the custodial parent who is the father.

“Both parents shall have equal access to any medical or academic records pertaining to the child while Emergency medical care will be arranged by the custodial parent (Manyara)and he will notify Onkoba as soon as possible,” stated Justice Bedford.