Police in Homa Bay county arrested a man and his son after they allegedly exhumed the body of the man’s wife from her grave and reburied it elsewhere following a family dispute over her burial site.
The incident happened on Saturday at Magina Police Station in Ndhiwa East Subcounty after village elders alerted authorities that the grave of Agnes Otieno Opiyo had been tampered with.
Investigators established that Agnes had been buried on Thursday, June 18, in her family compound despite objections from her husband, who had wanted her laid to rest in a separate grave he had prepared in a maize plantation outside the compound.
According to police, the deceased’s in-laws rejected the husband’s wishes and proceeded to bury her within the homestead.
Officers who visited the scene established, through a confession by the man,
that he had later exhumed his wife’s body and transferred it to the grave he
had originally prepared. Police said he was assisted by his son and his brother.
The man and his son were arrested and placed in police custody, while investigations continue.
Police are pursuing further inquiries into the incident, including the role of the third suspect who was reportedly involved in the exhumation.
The offence of unlawfully disturbing or exhuming a buried body is punishable under Kenyan law, and police say appropriate charges will be preferred once investigations are completed.
Elsewhere, police in Narok County have launched a murder investigation after a 47-year-old man was found dead outside his rented house in Transmara East Sub-county.
The incident was reported on Saturday by a man who said he had visited his brother’s homestead and found him lying lifeless at the doorstep of his house.
National Police Service officers responded to the scene at Mambo Leo Trading Centre in Kapsasian Ward and identified the deceased as Richard Kipkoech Kirui, 47.
Preliminary investigations indicate that on Friday night, June 19, the deceased had been drinking alcohol with a colleague at a bar until about 9:30 pm.
Police say the deceased, who was heavily intoxicated, was escorted home by a colleague, who allegedly left him at the entrance to his house before departing.
The following morning, a passerby discovered the body and alerted the family.
A physical examination of the body revealed a deep cut to the head, with blood oozing from the wound and from the mouth, indicating that the deceased may have been fatally attacked after arriving home.
Crime scene investigators processed and documented the scene before the body was taken to Abossi Mortuary, where it is awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Police said the motive for the killing remains unknown, and investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and identify those responsible.
