A Mavoko court has stopped the burial of a woman pending hearing of a case to determine who will bury her between her husband and alleged ‘benten’.
Senior Principal Magistrate Barbara Ojoo on Tuesday extended the orders issued on August 1 stopping the funeral home from releasing her body.
In the case, Dennis Kivuti who claims to be the late Caroline Njagi’s husband has sued Paul Nkonge saying he is a ‘benten’ and should not bury his wife.
“The applicant is the husband of the late Caroline Njagi while the defendant is the boyfriend(benten) of the deceased,” reads court papers.
Kivuti is represented by lawyers Danstan Omari, Cliff Ombeta and Shadrack Wambui who appeared in court today and informed court that there was still no consent.
According to court papers, the burial plans of his late wife are currently underway at pine city estate, corner house Nairobi and at the ancestral home in Siakago village without his input.
Kivuti claims that he started staying with his late wife in 2005 when they were married under Kiembu Customary Laws which was officiated by elders from his tribe.
The father of two girls says his wife died mysteriously on July 24 on her way to work and her body was taken to Shalom Hospital.
He says there are rumours that her body is secretly lying at Montezuma mortuary and will be released to Nkonge.
He however says prior to her death, they were not staying together as a couple but she recognised him as a husband and father of their children.
He claims that after her death, he reached out to know burial plans and her alleged boyfriend, his mother and her mother have adamantly told him that she will be buried in Meru.
Kivuti claims that his late wife wished to be buried at her matrimonial land in Embu and that’s the reasons he does not want her buried in Meru.
“Having locked me out of the burial arrangements, I am apprehensive that if my wife is buried in Meru County, her children and I will not be able to visit the gravesite of their mother due to the current hostility emanating from her boyfriend,”
Kivuti says that he is also afraid that his late wife might not be given a befitting send off since he is not involved in the burial arrangements.
He also says he is apprehensive that the current stalemate is a way to disinherit him from the estate of his late wife.
