A Tanzanian court magistrate has been criticized over an alleged biased ruling.
In the ruling dated December 19, 2017, Hon Shaid, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate, granted an abusive father physical custody of children on the basis of his wealthy and nationality.
The man, a respondent in a case filed by his wife, is a US citizen. The woman was represented by lawyer Robert Ruben and the man represented by Alex Mshumbuzi.
In the ruling, the magistrate noted that he had reviewed court papers before him and reached at a conclusion that the minors lived a “high-class life”.
He stated that owing to the high-end lifestyle the minors lived, he had arrived at a conclusion that the father, being wealthy, will be in a better position to take care of them.
“I find respondent a fit parent to be given the custody of the children so as he can [for] care his children in everything out of their needs, ” the magistrate stated.
“The decision is cemented by the facts that their father is a USA Citizen and therefore the issues as well, they, therefore, can get better future as they planned to be.”
The magistrate stated that placing the children under the care of their matter would escalate their differences hence affect them.
He, however, noted that the mother can step in whenever she “feels she has to do something”.
“The respondent should allow the children to visit their mother or the mother to meet the children at a convenient place to both of them and to children, ” the magistrate ruled.
“It should be remembered and remain a fact that the petitioner is a mother to the issues and so she should be respected, I order.”
The man is accused of assaulting the woman severally.
Mwanaume ABUSER anamtandika mke wake, Hakimu anampa FULL CUSTODY ya watoto ABUSER. Sababu 1. Abuser ana pesa 2. Abuser ni Mmarekani 3. Watoto wakikaa na mama wa kiTZ watashindwa kupaa. @judiciarytz UTAJARI wa BABA ndio sababu ya kumnyima Mama Custody? NCHI INA DHULMA pic.twitter.com/ibVpAKEEBH
— fatma karume aka Shangazi (@fatma_karume) January 14, 2020
Recently, a Kitui court was also on the receiving end of netizens wrath over claims of forcing a girl to live with her mother contrary to her wish.
The girl was captured on video clinging to her father in court.
The judiciary later issued a statement indicating that the story had been distorted to portray the court in bad light.
The statement indicated that both parents had consented to have the minor placed under the custody of the mother as the father, who the daughter is said to have preferred to live with, never statyed with her in the first place. The girl is said to have been living with her paternal grandparents as the father worked far away from home.
The girl’s father has moved to court under a certificate of urgency seeking a review of the ruling granting his estranged wife full physical custody.
The nine-year-old, referred to in court papers as SW, is at the heart of a three-year custody case pitting her mother JKK and her father EMM.
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