Daily Nation, Rachel Shebesh ordered to surrender child in custody row
Nairobi County Women’s representative Rachel Shebesh has been ordered to surrender a child whohas been in her custody.
Ms Shebesh was ordered to give up custody of the child to a woman who claimed her baby was snatched away while she was admitted in hospital.
A magistrate Wednesday ordered the child’s mother, Natasha Gachie to be “granted actual custody and control of the child pending the hearing and determination of the case” in the protracted legal battle pitting Ms Shebesh and Ms Natasha Gachie.
At the same time the magistrate ordered that “the parties attempt an out of court settlement on maintenance in the absence of which the application shall proceed for full hearing on March 13.”
In the case, Ms Shebesh, her husband Frank Shebesh alias Ambundo and Mr Teejay Ashivende are named as respondents and stand accused of blocking Ms Gachie from accessing her baby.
In suit papers, Ms Gachie claims that her baby was snatched from her by Mr Ashivende shortly after delivery at a city hospital and has since been kept away from her at Ms Shebesh’s Nairobi home.
Ms Gachie has accused the respondents of blocking her from accessing the baby.
The woman claims Mr Ashivende is the child’s father and resides at Ms Shebesh’s home, and had earlier been occasionally allowed access for breastfeeding sessions, which have since been denied.
She claims that guards have been instructed to deny her further access to the home and her baby and applied for court redress.
The 21-year-old woman sued for the return of her baby son who she claims was taken away from her just four days after delivery on April 23 2013.
Ms Gachie says Mr Ashivende took her baby away from the hospital after doctors diagnosed her as suffering from post-natal psychosis and advised her to stay on fortreatment.
She was at Nairobi Women Hospital from April 23 to April 26 before she was taken to a hospital in Mariakani South B where she completed her treatment and was discharged on May 2, 2013, her affidavit reads in part.
Ms Gachie claims that while she was being treated, Mr Ashivende sneaked away the baby to the Shebesh home at Riverside Drive estate in Nairobi.
In her request seeking the return of the baby, Ms Gachie says her son was being subjected to “wanton suffering in the hands of another woman”, adding that the child has been left unattended to on several occasions.
She accuses Mr Ashivende of being “a very irresponsible person, who cannot take care of the child”.
In the application, the plaintiff says she has been in a relationship with Mr Ashivende since 2002 and “occasionally lived together” until April last year when she was admitted to hospital to give birth.
“I do not know the condition of the minor. The actions of the respondent of snatching the child from the mother has shown that he is not a role model to the child nor is he fit to take care of the child,” her affidavit reads.
She wants the court to compel Mr Ashivende to return her child and to order him to pay her child support and maintenance of Sh200,000 every month. She also wanted the court to grant her sole custody of the child.
“The child is of a tender age and the only person who is fit and capable of taking care of such a young child is the mother,” she argued.
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