Family stops Kisii burial after bringing home wrong body
Funeral stopped in Mosensema, Bomachoge Borabu, Kisii County, on December 29, 2017 after the family realised the wrong body was brought home. PHOTO | MAGATI OBEBO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The woman's daughter had said the body did not resemble her mother but relatives insisted it was her mother's body.
- But when the body was taken home, her brothers also rejected it, saying it was not their mother's.
A burial in Kisii County was thrown into disarray on Friday after a family realised it had taken home the wrong body.
Mourners who had turned up for the funeral in Mosensema, Bomachoge Borabu Sub-County, had to go back home.
CONFUSION
The deceased, Ms Orpha Omweri, died at the Kenyatta National Hospital on December 17 and her body was taken to the hospital's morgue.
There was, however, confusion when her relatives went to pick up the body on Thursday morning, culminating in the swapping of the bodies.
Village elders said the swapped body was later returned to Nairobi after the family notified the police in Ogembo of the incident.
When the Nation visited the family on Friday evening, the grave dug to bury Ms Omweri was covered using iron sheets to prevent it from being flooded by the ongoing rains.
Her daughter Ms Rose Mageri, who had accompanied other family members to Nairobi, said she had initially rejected the body saying it was not her mother’s.
NOT OUR MOTHER
She told the Nation there was confusion during the identification of the body at the mortuary.
"I strongly opposed at first but villagers overwhelmed me, saying I didn't know my mother well," she narrated.
She said she was proved right, but too late, by her other siblings when the body arrived home.
"When my brothers saw the body, they concurred with me that it was not our mother’s," said Ms Mageri.
Mr Samuel Magero, an elder, said traditions dictated that a goat be sacrificed to appease the spirits.
"Ordinarily this could take place were it not for Christianity," he said.
