Woman to be buried after a year stay in morgue, court rules

Lydiana Chepngéno died on June 10, 2017 at a private hospital in Kisii but a dispute between relatives has delayed her burial for one year. [Photo: Courtesy

High Court Judge David Majanja has ordered for the burial of a woman whose body has stayed in the morgue for a year after relatives disagreed over her resting place.

Lydiana Chepngéno died on June 10, 2017 at a private hospital in Kisii but a dispute between her mother Beatrice Cheluget and husband Jonathan Gwako on who should bury the body derailed funeral plans.

Chelugut had appealed a ruling by a lower court on January 19, which declared that the husband had the right to bury the body.

The mother-in-law argued that the Trial Magistrate erred in the ruling as the couple had not officiated the marriage despite having children.

However, Mr Gwako, a Prison officer, maintained that he started cohabiting with the deceased in May 2011.

He argued that since the Prisons Department does not allow officers of different sexes to live together, he committed in writing that they were married. The deceased had a daughter prior to the cohabitation and the couple were blessed with two children.

In his ruling Judge Majanja stated that the fact that there was no customary marriage between the two does 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.