Why 50-year-old has sued mother and alleged biological father

A 50-year-old man has sued his mother and a man he claims to be his biological father in a fresh bid to seek his recognition.

John Arthur Kuria, in his new case filed before the High Court, has sued Mary Wambui Mwenja and Stanley Wangendo Waruimbo, saying that his identity on the birth certificate does not reflect his true roots.

Kuria, who lives in the US, claims his birth certificate indicated that his father was Eliud Sachida Wangusi.

However, despite being born in 1975, he only got the birth certificate on July 30, 2018, when he was preparing to travel to the US.

Kuria argues that he lived with Wangusi, now deceased, and his mother from the age of 11. Nevertheless, the mother opened up to him in 2023, informing him that Wangendo was the man whose genes he carried.

Kuria claims his mother narrated how Wangendo left her on bed in the house. Instructions left on a torn square ruled paper warned her not to name the baby after his family. She even shared a photo of Wangendo in their room. 

“The first respondent could not offer any plausible reason as to why she had kept all this information from me until when I was 48 years old. As a result, I have been very disturbed by the non-disclosure and I have begun a journey of getting to know my father and creating a rapport and a relationship with him. He said that this brought a flashback of how his family allegedly treated him differently from the other children,” says Kuria.

He claims the mother even gave him contacts of Wangendo’s relatives in the US, with whom the did a DNA test. According to him, the results indicated a high possibility of him being Wangendo’s son.

“My efforts to meet with my father, the second respondent, have been met with a lot of resistance and futile. The second respondent's brother, Mr Waruimbo, was cordial, and we had a meetup and chat. He acknowledged knowing me as the son of both the respondents born out of the relationship they had in the early 1970s. He offered to have a DNA test done on my sample and his. The DNA test results showed a 99.95 per cent likelihood that Mr Warwimbo and I are close blood relatives,” he says.

This is the second time that Kuria is suing Wambui and Wangendo. Justice Bahati Mwamuye dismissed his first bid to have a DNA test with Wangendo, saying a court cannot force a person to do undergo the test without compelling evidence.

In the case, Kuria claimed Wangendo refused to give him a name and parental recognition despite knowing he was his son.

He further claimed that being raised by a single mother without the help of a father figure amounted to mental torture, which has caused him suffering even in his adulthood.

“Since I was born till now the respondent in this matter has been an absentee father. We have never met and interacted concerning the issue in dispute and see how best we can sought the issue and have a solution thereof. The father in question here has never taken any responsibility in my upbringing since I was a child till now that I am an adult,” said Kuria.

“He has denied me an opportunity to know him as a father and subjected me to growing up as a person without a father yet in reality I have my own biological father who has just denied taking responsibilities. This has made me go through mental torture in most occasion during my childhood up date that I am an adult.”

In the evidence attached in the case, Kuria claimed the mother narrated how after the baby's father vanished, water broke while alone the house. She had to take a bus to hospital.

Kuria said that despite his mother writing to him about the child, her letters went unanswered.

According to the court records, Wangendo’s brother, Wangendo Waruimbo who lives in Seattle, US, knew Kuria as his nephew.

“The petitioner requested me if I was able to allow him to conduct a DNA test with my sample in order to confirm who his true father is. Since I knew the relationship that my brother the respondent herein had with Maryanne Wambui, the mother of the petitioner in this dispute, I gladly agreed to do a DNA test so as to establish the truth that the petitioner wanted to know."

A paternity test conducted on December 03, 2023, confirmed a blood relation.

According to Waruimbo, Kuria had been honest in his dealings with his brother. He claimed that he is ready to forfeit his legal rights but only wants to be recognised as a son.

Kuria asked the court to order Wangendo do a supervised DNA test. At the same time, he also wanted the court to find that Wangendo had denied him parental care and has subjected him to ridicule.

On the other hand, Wangendo asked the court to throw out the case, claiming it was not properly filed as Kuria and Waruimbo were in the US while the documents were commissioned by a lawyer in Kenya.

According to him, any affidavit sworn outside a country that is not in the Commonwealth ought to have been commissioned by a notary public for them to be admissible in Kenya.