J S M V. E N B

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

The appellant, J. S. M., was the respondent in High Court Divorce Cause No. 76 of 2014 in which her husband, E. N. B., the respondent in this appeal, had petitioned the High Court for a decree of divorce on the grounds of cruelty and irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. In her answer to the petition, the appellant denied the cruelty alleged against her and instead accused the respondent of cruelty, desertion and adultery with several unnamed women. The appellant did not file a cross-petition for divorce, but instead prayed for a decree of divorce, maintenance of Kshs 40,000 per month, division of matrimonial property, and costs, in her answer to petition.

Odero, J. heard the petition in which the appellant and the respondent were the only witnesses. By a judgment dated 16^th July 2014, the learned judge dissolved the marriage on the ground of the appellant’s cruelty. As regards the prayer for maintenance, the learned judge disallowed the same on the basis that t…