Kisumu woman demands 200K monthly child upkeep from Judge despite DNA showing he’s not the father
Patrick Okwaro, a High Court judge in Kakamega, is fighting tooth and nail to establish to the court that a one-and-a-half-year-old son born by a lady he began dating in 2009 is not his.
Okwaro, 55, better known by his initials PJ (Patrick Jeremy), was the Managing Partner of Otieno Yogo Ojuro and Company Advocates until his nomination as High Court Judge in 2015.
According to a sworn affidavit by J.L, the child’s mother (initials used to protect the child’s identity), she met the judge in 2009 at Kisumu Law Courts, where she worked as a cleaner.
The following year, she relocated to a neighboring town and lost contact with Okwaro, but they would later rekindle their relationship.
“We continued with our relationship and in the year 2021, I became pregnant and when I learnt that I had conceived, I informed the respondent (Okwaro).
I realized that the respondent’s behaviour started changing after he learnt that I was pregnant,” writes J.L in a sworn affidavit.
They were blessed with a bouncy baby boy on October 7, 2021, and Justice Okwaro sent her KSh 10,000 to buy a few stuff for the child.
“After that, the judge went mute and did not even bother to know how the minor was doing. I tried reaching out to him but he kept giving me empty promises,” J.L added.
However, Justice Okwaro stated that he was inclined to support J.L and the youngster until it was discovered that the mother was not acting in the best interests of the minor.
He implies that his position as a High Court judge may have provided a chance for J.L to financially exploit him.
“I told her that if I was to assume full responsibilities of the father in this case, then I needed to be sure about the child’s paternity by way of conducting a DNA test.
I support other children who are not really my blood, and I was ready to do this for J.L’s child,” he said.
Okwaro went on to say that, aside from being a judge, he is a human person who can father a child, and that his position in the judiciary should not give him preferential treatment from anyone.
J.L approached FIDA at this point for assistance on how to proceed with the whole DNA issue, and FIDA proposed that they undergo mediation.
The DNA tests, however, ruled out Justice Okwaro as the minor’s biological father.
J.L is in court through her lawyer, Danstan Omari, with reasonable grounds to think that the results of the government chemist are problematic and/or skeptic.
