Woman wants to exhume husbands body buried 14 years ago

A Nakuru woman has moved to court to seek a permit to exhume her husband’s body buried in 2005 for the purposes of reburial.

Lucy Muthoni wants Nakuru High Court to allow her to exhume Samuel Kimangu’s body after the deceased died on September 22, 2005 and was buried a week later.

Kimangu died as a result of immunosuppression syndrome due to Anaemia.

In her application filed Wednesday, Muthoni also wants Lady Justice Rachel Ng’etich to give her permit to rebury the deceased’s body at his ancestral home in Othaya, Nyeri County.

In the suit, she mentions the republic and Medical Health Officer Nakuru as the ex-parte.

According to Muthoni, her husband’s body was interred at Nakuru Cemetery following a family dispute.

The family is said to have disputed on where Kimangu was to be buried and they were forced to temporarily bury him at Nakuru Cemetery.

The dispute was whether to bury the deceased at his residence in Nakuru or at his ancestral home in Nyeri.

The dispute, however, took longer than anticipated and it was only after 14 years that they all agreed to resolve their dispute for the sake of the deceased’s decent burial at his ancestral land.

Muthoni who submits that she is the only surviving wife of the late Kimangu says that the family consented that the deceased needed to be buried at the land L.R NO Mahiga/Rokera/770, Othaya.

“The family of the late have resolved their disputes and wish to lay the deceased to rest by giving him a decent burial at his father’s home in Othaya,” read the application.

The land she says belongs to Benjamin Macharia, the father of the deceased, giving the deceased full right under Kikuyu Custom, to be buried there.

She wants court to grant the orders urgently since she needs to participate in the burial and see her husband granted a perfect send-off she has fought for.

“If the orders are delayed, my wishes may not come true as my age is quickly catching up with me and I was recently diagnosed with cancer,” reads her application.

She believes that no one including the state, Nakuru County and Nyeri County will suffer any prejudice if the body is exhumed and reburied.

Justice Ng’etich directed Muthoni to serve the application to the ex-parte.

She set October 2 as the date the court will give its direction in the matter.