‘Not guilty after all; they just buried their dead mother’

The 74-year-old woman who was alleged to have been secretly killed and buried by her son in Ndomba Village, Kirinyaga County, died of cardiac arrest.

Post-mortem tests showed she was long dead by the time of her interment.

Government pathologist Muli Maingi, who conducted autopsy on the body of Esther Wanjiru at the Embu Provincial General Hospital, concluded that the death was natural.

Consequently the couple apprehended by police on accusations of burying the old woman alive will not face any charges.

In his findings, the pathologist observed that there were no indications that the victim was buried alive, as had been widely speculated.

“The airways could have traces of dust if the victim had been buried alive,” part of the report given to police read.

Kirinyaga South Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Apollo Onyonyi said John Mugo and his wife Alice Nyaga who had been in custody since Monday following the incident would be released.

Mr Onyonyi said the only mistake the couple did was bury the dead without a permit.

“Since we had asked the court to give us more time to carry out more investigation as we still held the couple, we have to seek consent to have them released,” said the police boss.

According to Mugo, the deceased had expressed her wish to be buried immediately after death.

His younger sister, Mary Wanjiku who lived with the old woman at Kiandegwa village took her to Mugo but she dies the following day and was buried under the cover of darkness.                                        

—KNA