C.K V B.M[2012]eKLR Petitioner’s evidence that the Respondent took out his frustration on her and in spite of intervention from his siblings, parents, and uncles, the Respondent persisted in his cruel conduct to the Petitioner! After the baby was born, the Respondent on 1.6.2010 took the baby who was of tender age and barely 1 ½ years and refused to return it to the Petitioner even after request. Instead, he took it to his brother’s house. The Petitioner sought police intervention. The Respondent then threatened to kill the Petitioner. He took a panga and forced the Petitioner to hand the baby back to him. It was the Petitioner’s evidence that the police report is contained in O.B. No.77/01/06/2010 at Buru Buru Police Station. It was not until after two days that the baby the respondent had been taken to his brother was returned to the Petitioner. The Petitioner suffered excruciating psychological pain as a result. At age 1 ½ years, the baby was little and was breastfeeding. The Petitioner narrated how the Respondent also hit her in the face giving her a black eye. His temper, she said, was ungovernable. He did not care while harassing the Petitioner whether it was in the full glare of relatives, friends or members of the public. He showed no respect whatsoever to the Petitioner and he engaged in extra-marital activities with complete abandon. It was also the Petitioner’s evidence that the Respondent locked her in the house during the weekends to prevent her from visiting her friends and members of the family. When she realized that the Respondent was not going to change and that her life was in danger, she fled for dear life. These acts of cruelty by the Respondent, said the petitioner, were exacerbated by the fact that the Respondent neglected and abdicated his responsibility as a husband and failed to provide for the Petitioner and instead took to uncontrolled drinking of alcohol, sometimes up to the wee hours of the morning. The Petition is not presented with any connivance or collusion with the Respondent, said the Petitioner, and the acts of cruelty complained of have not been condoned. I have duly considered the Petition and the evidence adduced by the Petitioner. The Respondent did not file any defence by way of an answer to the Petition, nor did he enter appearance or attend the hearing which proceeded as an undefended cause. The grounds for dissolution of the marriage are stipulated in Section 8(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act thus:S.8(1) A petition for divorce may be presented to the court either by the husband or the wife on the ground that the respondent(a) has since the celebration of the marriage committed adultery; or (b) has deserted the petitioner without cause for a period of at least three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition; or (c) has since the celebration of the marriage treated the petitioner with cruelty; or (d) is incurably of unsound mind and has been continuously under care and treatment for a period of at least five years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, and by the wife on the ground that her husband has, since the celebration of the marriage, been guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality. The Petitioner alleged cruelty on the part of the Respondent. It is said that for cruelty to constitute a ground for divorce in law, it must be grave and weighty and must cause injury to the Petitioner’s health or reasonable apprehension of such injury. Cruelty is defined as “willful and unjustifiable conduct of such http://www.kenyalaw.org - Page 2/4