An Eldoret court has issued a warrant for the arrest and extradition of a Kenyan nurse living and working in the United States after he allegedly failed to comply with court orders requiring him to provide financial support for his three-year-old daughter.
The warrant followed an application filed by his former wife, who accused him of contempt of court after allegedly failing to honour maintenance orders issued for the upkeep of their child.
Senior Principal Magistrate Kesse Cheronoh issued the warrant in a case involving Noah Kibet Mutai and his former wife, Nancy Jemutai Samoei, over a protracted child maintenance dispute.
The magistrate directed the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to arrest Mutai upon his arrival in Kenya and present him before the court to answer charges of disobeying court orders.
“I direct that the OCS JKIA to arrest and hand over the defendant pursuant to the warrant and promptly deliver him to this court,” Cheronoh ruled.
Court records indicate that on July 17, 2024, the court ordered Mutai to pay Sh20,000 every month to his former wife for the maintenance of their minor daughter and to meet other related expenses.
However, the applicant alleges that Mutai failed to comply with the order, leaving her to shoulder the full responsibility of caring for the child without financial assistance.
According to court documents, the dispute arose after Mutai allegedly left Kenya for the United States, where he secured employment as a nurse, without informing his wife.
Nancy told the court that she had been married to Mutai since December 2020 and that they were blessed with one child, identified in court documents as A.M., who was born on August 16, 2023.
She said that shortly after the child’s birth, her husband travelled to the United States and allegedly ceased supporting both the child and the family.
“After giving birth, my former husband jetted out of the country to the US secretly and never bothered to see the newborn child or the family as he totally kept off the matrimonial home,” Nancy told the court.
She further stated that the respondent had abandoned the child despite being fully aware of his parental responsibilities.
“My husband has abandoned his child since she was born, leaving all her responsibilities to me, and yet he knows very well that I have no stable source of income,” she added.
Nancy argued that she has struggled to meet the child’s basic needs because she is unemployed and lacks a reliable source of income.
She therefore asked the court to find her former husband in contempt of court and compel him to appear and explain why he should not be punished for failing to comply with the maintenance order.
During earlier proceedings, Mutai disputed the child’s paternity and sought to disown the minor.
However, a DNA test ordered by the court in 2024 established that he was the biological father of the child.
The respondent later challenged the results, alleging that the test had been manipulated, and filed an application seeking a fresh DNA examination to be conducted under independent court supervision.
Court proceedings further heard that Mutai had briefly returned to Kenya in an attempt to resolve the marital dispute before later travelling back to the United States after reconciliation efforts failed.
The court indicated that further directions in the matter will be issued once the respondent is arrested and presented before the court in compliance with the warrant.
By Ekuwam Sylvester
