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Court orders woman to refund Sh150,000 bride price after divorce
By Brian Ocharo
April 28th, 2020 4 min read
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A woman has suffered a blow after a Kadhi who presided over her marriage ceremony dissolved the same and ordered her to refund her husband Sh150,000 bride price.
XYM will be forced to refund the dowry after her attempts to block repayment of the same was denied by the High Court.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi noted that the application to set aside an order requiring the woman to refund the amount could not be allowed since she is in breach of the terms of the consent entered last year before the Kadhi’s Court.
The judge further said that the consent judgement entered between the woman and her husband is clear on its terms that the woman is in default to pay the dowry as set out and agreed hence the judicial review remedy was not available for her.
Judicial review
“That being my view of the matter, the judicial review application by the woman falls flat on its face. The resultant judgement of April 10,2019 remains a binding covenant between the parties as of now capable of being enforced as a valid court order,” the judge said.
Justice Nyakundi said that from the record, the Kadhi’s court facilitated the parties to adopt the consent to meet the ends of justice in the matter.
The dispute began at the Kadhi’s Court in Mariakani when the couple sought to end their marriage after an irreparable family disagreement.
The man filed for divorce, which the wife did not object to. So, with the help of the Kadhi’s court, the couple was allowed to dissolve their marriage.
In a consent judgement dated April 30, 2019, the Kadhis court annulled the marriage and as a result of the nullification, the woman was to compensate the man of his bride price.
Equal instalments
According to court records, the refund was to be done in three equal instalments of Sh50,000 with effect from May, 2019.
But instead of making the payment, the woman filed a judicial review at Malindi court seeking the setting aside of the judgement by the Kadhi.
She argued that she was not accorded an opportunity to be heard at the Muslim court resulting in the judgement requiring her to refund the dowry.
“The Kadhi proceeded to hear the case despite the fact that I neither filed my defence nor a response for that matter or been afforded time to do so. The Kadhi did not further advise me of options or right to do so,” she lamented.
She also laments that the Kadhi, without enquiring on whether the summons were served on her or not, and without asking for proof of service of the same and plaints, he proceeded to hear the case.
“On the same date, with little or no legal knowledge nor representation and without the advice of the Kadhi as an officer of the court, at the same time under duress, coercion and intimidation by the man, I was compelled to sign an agreement to pay him back his dowry of Sh150,000,” she lamented.
Of interest was that the divorce case was filed and dispensed with on the same date with the Kadhi recording the terms of the alleged agreement as an order of the court.
“The Kadhi gave further orders dissolving the marriage there and then despite there being no indication in the proceedings that the parties had negotiated to settle the matter. The Kadhi did all these despite being the one who presided over the marriage ceremony,” the woman…
Nairobi News Logo
Court orders woman to refund Sh150,000 bride price after divorce
By Brian Ocharo
April 28th, 2020 4 min read
Share this
Wedding-couple-hands
FILE PHOTO
A woman has suffered a blow after a Kadhi who presided over her marriage ceremony dissolved the same and ordered her to refund her husband Sh150,000 bride price.
XYM will be forced to refund the dowry after her attempts to block repayment of the same was denied by the High Court.
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Justice Reuben Nyakundi noted that the application to set aside an order requiring the woman to refund the amount could not be allowed since she is in breach of the terms of the consent entered last year before the Kadhi’s Court.
The judge further said that the consent judgement entered between the woman and her husband is clear on its terms that the woman is in default to pay the dowry as set out and agreed hence the judicial review remedy was not available for her.
Judicial review
“That being my view of the matter, the judicial review application by the woman falls flat on its face. The resultant judgement of April 10,2019 remains a binding covenant between the parties as of now capable of being enforced as a valid court order,” the judge said.
Justice Nyakundi said that from the record, the Kadhi’s court facilitated the parties to adopt the consent to meet the ends of justice in the matter.
The dispute began at the Kadhi’s Court in Mariakani when the couple sought to end their marriage after an irreparable family disagreement.
The man filed for divorce, which the wife did not object to. So, with the help of the Kadhi’s court, the couple was allowed to dissolve their marriage.
In a consent judgement dated April 30, 2019, the Kadhis court annulled the marriage and as a result of the nullification, the woman was to compensate the man of his bride price.
Equal instalments
According to court records, the refund was to be done in three equal instalments of Sh50,000 with effect from May, 2019.
But instead of making the payment, the woman filed a judicial review at Malindi court seeking the setting aside of the judgement by the Kadhi.
She argued that she was not accorded an opportunity to be heard at the Muslim court resulting in the judgement requiring her to refund the dowry.
“The Kadhi proceeded to hear the case despite the fact that I neither filed my defence nor a response for that matter or been afforded time to do so. The Kadhi did not further advise me of options or right to do so,” she lamented.
She also laments that the Kadhi, without enquiring on whether the summons were served on her or not, and without asking for proof of service of the same and plaints, he proceeded to hear the case.
“On the same date, with little or no legal knowledge nor representation and without the advice of the Kadhi as an officer of the court, at the same time under duress, coercion and intimidation by the man, I was compelled to sign an agreement to pay him back his dowry of Sh150,000,” she lamented.
Of interest was that the divorce case was filed and dispensed with on the same date with the Kadhi recording the terms of the alleged agreement as an order of the court.
“The Kadhi gave further orders dissolving the marriage there and then despite there being no indication in the proceedings that the parties had negotiated to settle the matter. The Kadhi did all these despite being the one who presided over the marriage ceremony,” the woman protested.
She had accused the Kadhi of failing to ensure that she was served with the divorce papers before the matter could be heard and determined as well as failing to allow her to file her defence
