Judge Odek laid to rest in Siaya

Court of Appeal Judge Prof James Aggrey Otieno Odek was on Friday laid to rest at his home in Memba village, Rarieda in Siaya County.

ODM party leader Raila Odinga, Chief Justice David Maraga and Attorney-General Paul Kihara were among hundreds of people who attended the burial.

Mourners paid tribute to justice Odek, who was described by many as a brilliant and hardworking man whose services will be missed not only in the judiciary but by the entire country.

Leading several judges and magistrates from different levels of the Judiciary in the country, CJ Maraga said  justice Odek will be remembered for the formulation of the judicial  policy when he took over as the head of the Judicial Training Institute (JTI).

"We were impressed by the impeccable manner with which he organised judiciary training at the institute,” said justice Maraga.

GLOWING TRIBUTE

He went on to say that "Odek had a rare clarity of the mind and would break complex matters and make them simple without the risk of deduction," he said.

Mr Maraga said that Odek's meticulous rise in the judiciary upon admission to the bar in 1988 was due to the hard work he exhibited.

Justice Odek was born in Kongoni, Nairobi West in 1963.

He was the second born to the late Wilson Julius Odek and mama Loice Ogongo.

The late Odek studied at Uasin Gishu high school then later joined University of Nairobi where he attained bachelors of law degree with first class honours in 1987.

He was found dead on December 16 at his Groovehut apartment in Kisumu by his official driver after he delayed to report on duty.

A postmortem report revealed that he died due to a blood clot in one of his legs.

He is survived by a widow Mrs Anne Rebbeca Achieng with whom they were blessed with three sons.