Wanjiru’s mother in new bid to stop burial
Photo/SULEIMAN MBATIAH
Wanjiru's mother, Ms Hannah Wanjiru and her lawyer Gordon Ogola on June 1, 2011 inspect the place from where her son allegedly fell from.
The mother of marathoner Samuel Wanjiru on Tuesday moved to the High Court in Nakuru for a second time seeking orders to stop his burial.
Ms Hannah Wanjiru sought orders restraining her daughter-in-law, Terezah Njeri, or her agents from removing the athlete’s body from Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi until investigations into the cause of her son’s death were concluded.
Ms Wanjiru, who was represented by lawyer Gordon Ogolla, asked the court to review its unilateral orders of June 2 discharging a previous order stopping the burial.
Mr Ogolla asked Mr Justice William Ouko to stop the burial and to certify the plea as urgent since Ms Njeri, her friends, relatives and “a self-imposed” burial committee were planning to bury Wanjiru on Saturday.
Mr Justice Anyara Emukule had granted a 14-day interim order barring Ms Njeri from burying her husband until investigations were over.
He, however, lifted the injunction after the post-mortem examination, saying there were no legal reasons to stop the ceremony.
Mr Ogolla said the post-mortem examination showed fresh evidence which was not within the knowledge of his client when she made the earlier application.
“There has emerged a theory that the deceased was murdered a fact that has caused hostility between my client and the respondent further complicating the relationship between Ms Wanjiru and her daughter-in-law,” he said.
In her affidavit, Ms Wanjiru said the post-mortem examination showed her son died from injuries inflicted by a blunt object to the back of his head.
Mr Justice Ouko certified the matter as urgent but declined to review the orders issued by judge Emukule. He said Mr Justice Emukule would hear the application on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the court has allowed Mr Elijah Chebon — the man claiming to be marathon hero Samuel Wanjiru’s biological father — to use samples from the athlete’s body to prove his paternity claim.
Mr Chebon had asked the court to order that he takes samples from the body for a DNA analysis.
The court observed that samples had been removed following a request by one Ms Judy Wambui, who claims to be Wanjiru’s other wife, and ordered that Mr Chebon uses the same for his tests.
