Father Of Three Whose Wife Committed Suicide Seeks Custody Of His Kids

A Tononoka court has allowed the father of three to access his children who are allegedly being held by unknown people following the death of his wife.

Tononoka magistrate Lucy Khahendi Sindandi allowed Nikesh Harji Senghani to see his children. The court further restrained all parties from removing the children from the jurisdiction of the court.

Harji told the court that he is the only surviving parent of the children and the strangers forcibly took up their custody without his consent.

He revealed that he resides in Nairobi and for 30 days, he has been unable to see or know where his children were.

Harji says in court documents that he and his late wife Vanita Nekish Senghani were married on or about 2017 and had been living as husband and wife until her death on April 3, 2022. Their marriage was blessed with a five year old child and twins aged five months.

After hearing the application, the magistrate ordered the children’s officer, Nyali sub-county to conduct an urgent social inquiry about the children and file a report in court.

Harji moved to court seeking to be granted legal and actual custody, care and control of the minors.

Through lawyer Danstan Omari, Senghani urged the court to issue an exclusion order against the three strangers identified as Hiran Geeta Lali, Lalji Vishran Hirani and Namrata Manoj Keshavji Makwana.

The three took custody of the children from interfering with the welfare and custody of the minors pending hearing and determination of the case.

“The plaintiffs (Hiran Geeta Lali, Lalji Vishran Hirani and Namrata Manoj Keshavji Makwana) are strangers to the children, to myself and they are not related to me nor the children. I am willing and ready to take care of my children as the only surviving parent as my late wife and biological mother of these children committed suicide is still a devastating occurrence,” says Senghani.

Senghani added that he is apprehensive that the strangers have another undisclosed ulterior motive which is definitely not in the interest of the children.

He said the best interest of the children will be served if they are surrendered to him as their biological father for him to make arrangements on how to raise them.

Suicide

On the fateful day the family woke up well and his wife started preparing breakfast for the family. His late wife could not go to the temple as she had undergone a Caesarian section when delivering the twins. His wife decided to send their first born child to the temple with their neighbor.

Senghani added that he confronted his wife on why she decided to send their daughter with a neighbor to her grandmother would equally be going to the temple and he suggested that their daughter should wait for the grandmother who would pick her up.

“My wife was adamant and gave our daughter to the neighbor, when she came back to the house, she proceeded to the bedroom. I followed her and scolded her that she should never again send our daughter to the temple with a stranger. She said nothing and I left her in the bedroom and proceeded to the sitting room where I was. Having been angered by the act of sending my daughter to the temple with a stranger, I called my friend Hiteshi Bhuidha asking him to buy breakfast for me,” Senghani claims.

After he left, he allegedly met his friend at around 9 am at a restaurant in Karen where they ordered breakfast.

The court heard that Harji then received a call from his mother telling him that his wife was not opening the door. He told her to be patient since the wife could have been in the bathroom.

However, a few minutes later, Senghani received another call from his mother telling him that his wife had committed suicide.

He left his breakfast halfway and rushed home where he found a crowd gathered and his wife laying helplessly. He added that he collapsed upon seeing his wife and was rushed to hospital where he was released at 5pm.

After the postmortem, it was concluded that Senghani’s wife died of neck compression.

The father of three moved to seeking for the custody of his children after people who has termed as strangers obtained custody of his children.

The Nyali family filed application seeking to bar Senghani from accessing the minors or moving them from Nyali pending hearing of the case they had lodged.

In their application, they urged the Tononoka court to order the immigration department to bar the departure of the three minors .

But Senghani fails to understand how court allowed strangers to have his children custody even without children officer report.