Prominent lawyer Danstan Omari has laid out a clear legal strategy that Hiram Gitau, popularly known as Tash, could use to overturn a custody ruling that went in favour of Pastor Victor Kanyari, the biological father of the late singer Betty Bayo’s two children.
In a TikTok video posted on October 28, 2026, via the Court Helicopter channel, Omari delivered a direct-to-camera legal explainer, arguing that Tash has solid grounds to appeal to the High Court and that such an appeal has a genuine chance of succeeding.
The law Omari says could help Tash win custody
At the heart of Omari’s argument is Section 104(c) of the Children’s Act, which he says prevents a court from removing a child from a home where they have lived for more than three years.
The lawyer stressed that the rationale behind this provision is deeply practical. A child who has spent that long in one place has built a routine, formed friendships, settled into a school, adopted a diet, and possibly embraced a religious identity.
Uprooting them, Omari argued, disregards all those established foundations in a single stroke.
He also challenged the magistrate’s court on a second front: the question of the children’s own expressed wishes.
The children, he noted, have reportedly said they do not want to go to Kanyari, and Omari questioned how authorities would enforce such an order against children who are actively resisting it.
“If these kids are forced to go to Kanyari by the police, then they jump out of the window, what will happen?” he said, underlining the potential human cost of ignoring the children’s voices.
Can a court repair a broken bond?
Omari raised a third argument that he described as critical: a court cannot manufacture a relationship between a parent and a child.
If Kanyari’s bond with his children has deteriorated to the point where they are unwilling to go with him, no judicial order can rebuild that connection by force.
He also cited Article 10 of the Constitution, which enshrines public participation as a national value, arguing that courts are obligated to listen to what those most affected, including the children themselves, are saying.
Omari added that a report from a child psychology expert would be central to any High Court appeal, and suggested such evidence could form the backbone of Tash’s case.
The custody dispute has gripped Kenyans following the death of Betty Bayo, who was previously married to Kanyari before she later wed Tash.
Kanyari recently won the right to custody of his two biological children, who had been living with Tash since Bayo’s passing.
