Woman to be buried after year stay in morgue

The man has been embroiled in a protracted court case of who should bury the woman.

The husband of a woman whose body has been lying in a mortuary for more than a year has been allowed to bury her.

Lydiana Chepng'eno died on June 10 last year at a private hospital in Kisii but a dispute pitting her husband, Jonathan Gwako, against his mother-in-law, Beatrice Chelugut, on who should bury her derailed funeral plans.

Ms Chelugut had appealed a ruling by a lower court on January 19 that said Mr Gwako had superior rights to bury the body.

She argued that the trial magistrate had ruled that Gwako was Ms Chepng'eno's husband although they had not legitimised the marriage. 

She faulted the magistrate's ruling that since the two had children together, they were married.

But Gwako, who is an officer with the Prisons Department, said the two started cohabiting in May 2011. He argued that since his employer did not permit officers of different sexes to live together, he committed in writing that they were married.

Gwako added that Chepng'eno had named him and their children as dependents in an insurance policy.

High Court judge David Majanja ruled the fact that there was no customary marriage did not preclude the court from finding that the parties cohabited for a period of time and conducted themselves in such a manner that a marriage could be presumed.

“It is my hope that the relatives can sit down with the respondents and agree to give the deceased a dignified and worthy burial."