A Thika court has issued a warrant of arrest for a 27-year-old mother of three said to have abandoned her children and eloped with a lover three weeks ago.
The case against Christine Wanjiku was brought before the Thika Resident Magistrate Esther Mburu by the Thika Children’s Officer Rebecca Kariuki. This is after one of the three children, 10-year-old Joseph Mburu was rescued by members of the public from the streets last week.
According to the woman’s husband, Simon Mwaura, who was also arraigned before the court to answer to charges of negligence, his wife of 11 years eloped with another man abandoning their children in a rental house in Makongeni estate, in the outskirts of Thika town.
He told the court that that he was unable to tend to the children and at the same time go to work. He consequently took the children to their grandmothers’ house where the boy took off and became a street urchin.
Mwaura told the court that his meagre earnings cannot afford food and a house help and that is why he took the children to their grandmother whom the Children’s Office revealed was very frail and sickly and can therefore not be able to take care of the children properly.
Kariuki told the court that the 10-year-old boy had since dropped out of school and roams the Thika streets begging for food. She said it was in the interest of the children that the parents should be compelled to take care of the children or surrender them to the state.
The magistrate told the police to treat the matter as urgent and apprehend the runaway mother. The husband was however released and instructed to take keen care of his children.