A man in Mombasa has been granted damages amounting to Sh700,000 for unknowingly taking care of a child he believed to be his.
High Court judge Eric Ogola termed SVKK as an honorable man who took care of his wife through pregnancy, took her to a good hospital, and paid bills before his wife disclosed that he was not the baby’s biological father.
“The court has allowed SVKK Sh400,000 being general damages for mental anguish, stress and embarrassment and another Sh300,000 assessed for taking care of the mother of minor during pregnancy, and for hospital delivery costs for the minor,” the judge said on Wednesday.
This ruling came as a turn from the main petition filed by NTA, the baby’s biological father seeking to change the name on the birth certificate.
NTA in the petition said sometime in 2015, he was in a relationship with one RNL. However, it was cut short when his lover married SVKK in May that year.
The baby was born in October 2015 and named after SVKK’s biological mother. But the marriage irretrievably broke down after a paternity test issued in September 2016 indicated that the SVKK was not the biological father.
After the divorce, NTA married RNL on December 21, 2018, but he claimed that despite being in a relationship, his wife never informed him that he was the minor’s biological father.
He sought to have the Attorney General compelled to change both the father’s and baby’s names on the birth documents.
In a cross-petition responding to NTA, SVKK said he believed as a good and responsible husband, he cleared hospital bills and bought all necessary items for a newborn leaving hospital.
“Coming from the Giriama community. I proudly named her after my mother. However, the pride and joy turned to embarrassment, mental anguish, and disappointment when my wife left for her parents’ home where she called to inform me that the baby was not mine, almost a year later,” he told the court.
He demanded a paternity test after which he expressed his anger towards NTA whom he said got sexually involved with RNL knowing she was someone’s wife.
“It has to date caused me untold misery, mental anguish, mental stress, embarrassment and shame,” he stated.
He further said he was angered by the fact that despite knowing he was not responsible for the baby, RNL let him continue taking care of and even allowed him to name her after his own mother.
He asked for general damages for mental anguish, the breakup and costs of the petition.
Justice Ogola granted his prayers and because he did not dispute paternity, also allowed NTA to change the child’s name and the father’s in the birth papers.