Burial feud rocks US family kin
Mr Justus Kebabe and his wife Bilha Omare during happier times. Mr Kebabe pleaded guilty in court to killing his wife and their two children last month in their US apartment. Photo/COURTESY
Two Kenyan families are fighting over the burial place for a woman and her two children murdered three weeks ago in the US.
The woman’s husband, Mr Justus Kebabe, has admitted in court to killing his wife, son and daughter in New Jersey on October 11 in their apartment.
According to the US-based family of Bilha Kwamboka Omare, 32, who was murdered along with her son, Kinley Ogendi, 12, and daughter, Ivyn Ogendi, nine, they will be buried on November 15 at a public cemetery in New Jersey.
The prosecutor has asked the court to jail Mr Kebabe for 76 years, 25 years and four months for each count. Should that be granted, he will be eligible for parole after 50 years.
The Omare family spokesman Shem Onditi, said from New Jersey, they had claimed the three bodies as next of kin as provided by Minnesota law.
But Mr Kebabe’s family, also in the US, says it has the right to bury them in Kisii, Kenya, under the Abagusii customs on marriage.
A brother of the accused, Mr Evans Kebabe, said on Thursday the Abagusii customary laws should take precedence over the Minnesota law in the burial dispute.
“I know my brother committed a horrific crime but the customs are in place and they should be upheld,” Evans said.
He said he had sought a court injunction to stop the Omare family from taking the bodies to New Jersey for burial.
A member of the Kebabe family, Joseph Lister Nyaringo, said in an email, that despite the pain the late Bilha’s family is in, they need to cooperate with the Kebabe family and have the burials in Kenya.
But Ms Omare’s brother, Danvas Omare said in New Jersey: “You cannot kill someone and then say you will bury them. Bilha was my sister and the family here in the US is involved. It’s nothing against our customs.”
“There is no custom that permits a man to murder his family and later claim culture,” Mr Onditi said. “There is no such culture.”
Asked what will become of the couple’s four-year old girl, Pascali, currently in the custody of child welfare services, Mr Onditi said the family would adopt her.
“That’s why the family wants the burial in the US where the father would be and she will be able to visit the burial site when she grows up.”
A fundraiser by the Omare family is scheduled for the weekend in Minnesota for the burial arrangements. Mr Kebabe said he would not attend, as he “had not been invited.”
