Estranged man exhumes child’s body

By NICHOLAS ANYUOR

Shock and fear gripped Kadongo, Kisian village after a man allegedly exhumed the body of his baby and abandoned it at the doorstep of his parents-in-law.

Hundreds of villagers thronged Mzee Maurice Okumu Nyakwaka’s home in Kisumu County to witness what old people described as abomination in the Luo tradition.

Lavender Achieng’s relatives sit next to a coffin containing the remains of one-month-old child at Kuolu Village near Kisian Market in Kisumu, Sunday. [PHOTO: TITUS MUNALA/STANDARD]

When The Standard visited the home everyone was dumbstruck, with women seated around the ill-fated coffin.

Nyakwaka, 65, said his adopted daughter, Lavender Achieng’, 21, whose parents died when she was five, had been experiencing "bitter" marital life in Imbo Kadimo village, Usigu, Bondo District, over 200km from his Kisumu home.

"They married six years ago and have been quarrelling all the time. My daughter has been accusing him of infidelity," he said.

Last month, Lavender and her deceased one-month-old daughter fell sick and the husband allegedly refused to take them to hospital, forcing her to come with the daughter to her parents home in Kisumu.

Baby died

They were hospitalised at Chula Imbo Hospital, with Lavenda’s parents taking care of the bill. Unfortunately, the baby passed on.

"I then informed the husband of the death. He accepted to bury the body and even bought the coffin. I sent an entourage to witness the burial in Usenge," Nyakwaka said.

However, two weeks later, Lavender and the husband, Walter Odhiambo, allegedly could not live in peace and she left for her paternal home to seek a lasting solution to the marital problems.

"I called Odhiambo and told him to come after one week so that we could discuss the matter this week," said Calvince Okumu, Lavenda’s brother.

But, the estranged husband reportedly failed to remain patient and on Saturday at 10pm, he allegedly talked to the wife on phone, demanding that she goes back to their matrimonial home.

After failing to convince the wife, who insisted he comes on the agreed date for peace talks with her parents, he allegedly threatened to kill her or to kill himself.

"He called and told me that he would either kill me or kill himself if I didn’t go back home," said tearful Lavender.

Cleansing ceremony

And on Sunday morning, at 2 am, Mzee Nyakwaka heard his dog barking, but dismissed it thinking it was the normal sojourning hyenas and other wild animals that pass by his home.

Later, the daughter allegedly got a phone call from the husband, who reportedly warned her that he had left the body of the child for dogs to eat by the doorstep.

"She was shocked and left in fear. She could not even get out of where she was sleeping and instead called me. When I got out, I saw the coffin," Nyakwaka explained.

Even after allegedly abandoning the body, which was now rotting in a dusty coffin wrapped in bluish cloth, Lavenda claims the husband warned he would kill her in two days and then kill himself.

"I have reported the matter to the police and area chief and the officers have promised to take action. Now I don’t know how he is going to kill my daughter and when. This is another fear," Nyakwaka said.

Culturally, the incident is an abomination and Mzee Nyakwaka admits he has never heard of such an incident in his lifetime.

"That is left for consultation. When we put our heads together, we might know what to do, even if it would mean a cleansing ceremony. I don’t know whether this is a curse to my family," he remarked.