Kenyan Finds Diplomatic Immunity Less Robust Than Expected

Apparently there are some limits to diplomatic immunity:

An international custody battle is brewing over the children of a Kenyan diplomat who was arrested for allegedly beating his 9-year-old son at their Queens home.

Fred Matwanga’s diplomatic immunity has saved him from any criminal charges in the abuse case so far — but it didn’t stop officials from the city’s child-welfare agency from taking custody of his children over the weekend.

Sources yesterday said agents from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services put the injured boy and his little sister in a protective home while officials sort out abuse issues involving their father.

And ACS officials are set to meet with the New York City Office of the United Nations this morning to plot their next move — asking Kenya to waive immunity for Matwanga, the second secretary of its mission to the world body, a well-placed source said last night.

If the African country agrees, local authorities would then proceed with prosecuting Matwanga.

But if Kenya refuses to waive immunity for Matwanga, city officials will ask the U.S. State Department to boot him from the country, the source said.

. . .

Matwanga was busted Saturday night after allegedly beating his son on the head with a wooden stick in their home in South Ozone Park. Cops said the diplomat, 38, was also chasing the boy through the house with a knife.

The frightened child fled his home with a bloodied head shortly after 6 p.m. and tried to take refuge with a neighbor.

“My father’s trying to kill us,” the boy said, according to the neighbor, Cindy Raghu, 23.

Despite his desperate pleas, Raghu’s mother was so frightened that she shut the door, leaving the boy to fend for himself, Cindy Raghu said. The child then ran and hid behind some recycling bins in an alley next to the Raghus’ house.