[2016] KEHC 1092 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants failed to establish, on the balance of probabilities, that the child they sought to adopt (I H) was the same child referred to as S by the police and initially placed in the charity home. The pleadings and supporting documents did not sufficiently connect the identities, creating...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2016] KEHC 1092 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: N K K; Applicant: N W K; Respondent: Attorney General (implied, state interest)
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Commercial Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 42 of 2016
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- application dismissed
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Child Abandonment, Identity Verification
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
N K K
Applicant
N W K
Applicant
Attorney General (implied, state interest)
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants have established the identity of the child sought to be adopted beyond reasonable doubt.
- 2 Whether the child referred to as S by the police is the same as I H placed with the applicants.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants failed to establish, on the balance of probabilities, that the child they sought to adopt (I H) was the same child referred to as S by the police and initially placed in the charity home. The pleadings and supporting documents did not sufficiently connect the identities, creating doubt as to whether the child in question was the same individual throughout the process. As a result, the court was not satisfied that the legal requirements for adoption had been met, particularly regarding the clear identification of the child, and therefore declined to grant the adoption order.
Court Disposition
application dismissed
Orders
- The suit is dismissed.
- No adoption order is granted.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
14 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
(FAMILY DIVISION)
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 42 OF 2016
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR ADOPTION OF BABY I H
JUDGEMENT
1. The applicants, N K K and N W K, are Kenyan citizens. They are married. They seek to adopt Baby I H. Their Originating Summons is dated 18th March 2016.
2. The child in question was allegedly abandoned at Thika and was found by a Good Samaritan, who then took her to the police. The police referred her to a charity home for care and protection. In the forwarding letter dated 24th February 2011 she was referred to as S. The last police letter dated 30th April 2012 refers to her similarly. The documents by the other agencies refer to her variously as I H or I.
3. The pleadings herein make no reference whatsoever to S, yet this was the name that was given to the child that the police referred to the charity home from where the applicants got her from. The pleadings do not draw out that connection, and therefore there is no knowing that S, I H and I refer to one and the same person.
4. I am not convinced that the rescued child that the police released to the charity home, who they referred to as S, was the same child that was eventually placed with the applicants called I H.
5. I am unable to grant the orders sought and I do hereby dismiss the suit.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 25TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2016.
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE