The burial of the late Silas Kamuta Igweta which was suspended on February 22, 2024 by Milimani Commercial Magistrate G.Gitonga will now proceed.
It was suspended pending the hearing and determination of the application filed by his wife Grace Rigiri.
The two daughters of the second woman that the late Silas was said to have been living with had filed an application in court to lift that suspension.
When the matter came for judgement today,it was ruled that Meru culture was absent during the deceased ‘s life and so the deceased to be interred in accordance with his Christian faith and Meru culture only where applicable
-Body of the deceased to be released to Kathambi.
-Deceased to be buried at Lairang’i Mumui
-OCS Meru Police Station to be served with the court order to ensure its compliance.
The Plaintiffs asked for a stay of execution pending appeal. The stay was granted for 14 days.
Through lawyer Danstan Omari, the two Purity Kinya and Miriam Makena had said that their mother Sarah Kathambi was the one taking care of the deceased till his demise.
Omari says they want the man to rest in peace as soon as possible.
They claim that Mzee was not murdered.
Omari says he has raised questions about how one clan to bury a man she has not seen for 40 years.
“He says that the deceased was close to second wife, the old man’s death acted as divorce,” Added Omari.
Purity Kinya who is the daughter of the second wife said that Rigiri and her father the late Silas separated for 40 years because of their cruelty against him.
She claims that her father’s second wife is the closest person in the marital union between the two and therefore she can prove her fundamental proximity to her deceased father, having lived together in a family home they constructed for 40 years.
“THAT the 1st Applicant has been absent in my father’s life for 40 years and cannot possibly point to a significant familial bond with my deceased father,” Added Kinya.
She stated that her father has never acted as a husband to Rigiri and never lived with her. He moved to Kianjai after his retirement where he started a business which unfortunately collapsed and Rigiri and her Son started mistreating the ladies father.
The Lady added that the alleged Son to Rigiri Mathew Kobia not their father’s biological father as the Rigiri was married to her father after his birth.
She added that indeed Rigiri was married to her father as first wife but her mother Kathambi also married the late, through the Meru Customary Law and they all lived in the same house in Nairiri where they used to cook in the same kitchen and sleep in the same house.
“My father and my mother’s parents were village mates. My father introduced my mother as his second wife and he paid her dowry according to the Meru Customary Law. He put the wives in the same house but with different wings, though they shared the same kitchen where they used to cook for the families,” She added.
This family says their father died of natural causes, they took care of him and all hospital bills and that he had already written his will on where he wants to be buried.
Omari says the marriage to first wife ended after death.
They want the court to allow their father to rest here he wanted.
On the other hand the first wife to the deceased Grace Rigiri Silas and father to Mathew Kobia claims that the death of the deceased was not natural.
He passed away on February 17, 2024 and his remains currently lie at Umash Funeral Home in Nairobi County.
Grace Rigiri says she is the legal wife of the late Silas Kamuta Igweta having solemnized their union on July 27/1959 at the Methodist church kianjai and certificate of marriage was issued that day.
She says that at all time she cohabited with the deceased until his demise.
The petitioner claims that Sarah Kathambi had an affair with the deceased and she forced him to move in with her at an undisclosed location and blocked him access to his wife and children.
They add that no divorce had ever commenced and the deceased could not have married Kathambi.
It is their contention that because they are Meru and using Meru Custody law, Rigiri has rights to bury her husband and decide where he should be buried.
“The deceased did not die a natural death and therefore there is a need for a post Mortem to be conducted.
“It is only just and fair and equitable that this application be heard as a matter of urgency,” Added the applicant.
Other defendants are Purity Kinya and Miriam Makena.
Rigiri is seeking orders to stop Kathambi from removing the body of Silas from Umash funeral home pending the hearing and determination of this matter.
She is also seeking orders from the court directing a conduction of a post mortem Examination on the body of the deceased by the government pathologist, to establish the cause of death and the post mortem be availed to court and to the parties.
