The proceedings concerned a child born in the United Kingdom in May 2005 to a British father and Kenyan mother. The couple had married in Nairobi in April 2005 and thereafter settled in the United Kingdom. On 30 November 2007, the mother travelled with the child to Kenya. The circumstances of the trip were in dispute and had not been resolved by the Kenyan courts.
On 15 January 2009, the Family Division of the High Court in London made the child a ward of court and ordered the mother to return the child to England. Legal proceedings were issued in Kenya, both before the Children’s Court and the High Court. On 17 March 2009, the High Court of Kenya, at Nairobi, made an order for the return of the child forthwith to the Family Division of the High Court, the child being a ward of that court.
The mother appealed the return order of the High Court, and on 10 June 2011, her appeal was upheld: Civil Appeal No. 188 of 2009 (O’Kubasu, Aganyanya and Waki, JJ.A). The Court of Appeal ordered that the matter before the Children’s Court should proceed for hearing. The father applied to a different panel of the Court of Appeal, under the provisions of Article 163 (4) (1) of the Constitution, for a certificate to appeal to the Supreme Court.
