95-year old woman 'secretly buried' in her illness

Emotions ran high as police exhumed the body of a 95-year-old woman alleged to have been secretly buried by her son after she fell ill at Ndomba village in Kirinyaga County.

Observations indicated that Esther Wanjiru Kararu could have been slashed to death before her body was buried in a grave near the house.

The deceased was wrapped in a white polythene bag and buried in one of the corners of the quarter acre plot.

The scene was then concealed with dried maize stalks.

Mwea East District Commissioner (DC) Alfred Mwadale, Kirinyaga South OCPD Apollo Onyonyi and DCIO Birya Fondo supervised the exhumation exercise as scores of villagers milled around the home.

“The circumstances leading to the death are not clear and from the observations the woman could have been slashed to death before she was buried,” said the DC at the scene.

John Mugo Karanu and his wife Alice Nyaga who were with the deceased have since been arrested.

According to Mary Wanjiku who is the sister to the deceased, the victim was feeling unwell and had intended to meet with her elder son.

“I hired a vehicle to take my elder sister to her son after he declined to visit her. On Saturday I sent my daughter who was told that her grandmother was taken to hospital at Kerugoya town,” said Wanjiku.

Later, she visited the home and insisted on seeing her sister only to discover there was a shallow grave barely ten 10 metres away from the brick house.

The grand daughter, Peninah Njeri, said she was taken round when she enquired on the whereabouts of the deceased.

 “My uncle was behaving in a strange way when I tried walking to the farm, but I managed to sneak only to find a shallow grave,” said Kamuru.

The suspect told the police that his mother had expressed her wish to be hurriedly buried when she died or a curse would befall the family.

- KNA