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| The body of Evans Bari Omuhindi is exhumed at Nakuru North Cemetery after a court order was issued. [Photo: Boniface Thuku/Standard] |
By Vincent Mabatuk
Nakuru, Kenya: The legal tussle among family members over the burial place of their kin took a different twist after a body buried last week was Tuesday exhumed following a court order.
Evans Bari Omuhindi, an engineer who died early this month at Evans Sunrise Hospital in Nakuru, was last Friday hurriedly buried by his first wife Jessica Kanyi at the Nakuru North Cemetery without the knowledge of his extended family.
Bari’s parents and a woman claiming to be his second wife had moved to court seeking to block the burial, citing that the former engineer should be buried at his Ebuskami Emanake village home in Luanda, according to Luhya customs.
Kept in the dark
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The deceased body was exhumed and taken to Nakuru Municipal mortuary in the presence of the Nakuru Central Police Station OCS.
According to the deceased’s mother, Dinah Saisi Omuhindi, her son’s first wife and her three children kept them in the dark over his sickness and death.
“My son was living at Shaabab but I reside at Free Area and when I had gone to see him I was sent away by the wife who did not even inform us over his condition and even the burial,” the mother said. Sofia Odadi, the second wife, could not hold back her tears, citing exclusion over her husband’s condition and death by the first wife.
“I received the information about his death through my in-law. I could not comprehend because he had sent us some money for upkeep hence what transpired was questionable,” she said.
Nekesa Maunda and Dinah Saisi Omuhindi, the first and second plaintiffs respectively, went to court on November 21 to seek permission to exhume the deceased body.
On Friday, Resident Magistrate Victoria Ochanda issued orders directing the police to oversee an exhumation of Omuhindi’s remains.
The mother of the deceased further alleges that despite several attempts to reach an amicable solution with her son’s first wife, the woman has rebuffed all their suggestions.
