[2015] KEHC 3999 (KLR)
The court found that the Respondent deserted the Petitioner for a period exceeding three years prior to the filing of the petition, and that the marriage had irretrievably broken down. The Respondent did not contest the petition or provide any explanation for her absence. The Petitioner’s testimony was unchallenged...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2015] KEHC 3999 (KLR)
- Parties
- Petitioner: P M; Respondent: D R W
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Commercial Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Divorce Cause 197 of 2012
- Procedural Posture
- Divorce Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- petition allowed; marriage dissolved
- Judges
- LA Achode
- Legal Topics
- Divorce, Desertion, Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
P M
Petitioner
D R W
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Divorce Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the Respondent deserted the Petitioner for a continuous period of at least three years preceding the petition.
- 2 Whether the marriage between the Petitioner and Respondent has irretrievably broken down.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the Respondent deserted the Petitioner for a period exceeding three years prior to the filing of the petition, and that the marriage had irretrievably broken down. The Respondent did not contest the petition or provide any explanation for her absence. The Petitioner’s testimony was unchallenged and consistent with the particulars in the petition. The court was satisfied that the statutory grounds for dissolution of marriage had been met, and that there was no evidence of collusion, connivance, or condonation. Accordingly, the court held that the marriage should be dissolved.
Court Disposition
petition allowed; marriage dissolved
Orders
- The marriage celebrated between the Petitioner and Respondent at the Registrar’s office in Nairobi on 16th April 2007 is hereby dissolved.
- Decree nisi dissolving the said marriage is hereby issued to be made absolute thirty (30) days from the date of this judgment.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
20 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
DIVORCE CAUSE NO. 197 OF 2012
BETWEEN
P M........................................................................................................................................PETITIONER
AND
D R W …………….…………………….………….................................................……RESPONDENT
JUDGEMENT
The Petitioner then a bachelor of Kenyan extraction and the Respondent then a divorcee of United States of America ( hereinafter the USA) citizenry, were married on 16th April 2007 at the Registrar’s Office in Nairobi A certificate of marriage serial Number [particulars withheld] was issued to them in accordance with the Marriage Act (Cap 150 Laws of Kenya). The couple thereafter cohabited at Kasarani from 2007 to 2008 and in Muthaiga from 2008 to 2009. They did not disclose their respective occupations, or whether there were any issues of the marriage.
The Petition for divorce filed on 25th October 2012 is premised on grounds of desertion as particularised therein. The particulars state that in the month of September 2009, the Respondent left the Petitioner and went to USA to celebrate Christmas with her family and did not return. That the Respondent had deserted the Petitioner for a period of three years preceding the presentation of this petition and has not resumed cohabitation to date. The Petitioner therefore prays that the marriage between him and the Respondent be dissolved since the marriage has irretrievably broken down.
The Petitioner confirms that this Petition has not been presented or prosecuted in collision with the Respondent, nor has he connived or condoned the acts of desertion complained of. He has also certified that there have been no previous proceedings filed regarding the marriage.
On 14th February 2013, the Deputy Registrar certified that the matter was suitable to proceed for hearing as an undefended cause for one day in Nairobi. The Respondent had been served by the counsel for the Petitioner via email of 26th October 2012 with the petition and notice to appear. She did not appear nor did she file an answer to the Petition. The Petitioner testified on 19th March 2015 and basically confirmed what he had set out in the Petition.
From the foregoing it is evident that the marriage celebrated between the parties herein on 16th April 2007, no longer exists and can be safely said to have irretrievably broken down without hope of salvage. The only appropriate thing is to make orders as I hereby do:
That the marriage celebrated between the Petitioner and Respondent at the Registrar’s office in Nairobi on 16th April 2007 is hereby dissolved.
That Decree nisi dissolving the said marriage is hereby issued to be made absolute thirty (30) days from the date of this judgment.
There shall be no orders as to costs.
SIGNED DATED and DELIVERED in open court this 29th day of May 2015.
…………………………………….
L. A. ACHODE
JUDGE