One week after a man who was presumed dead returned home to find a body believed to be his already buried, his family is still in agony as the exhumation process drags on.
Relatives of Mr Abdalla Mwenda Suleiman were on October 8, shocked when he showed up at their home in Loire village near Mutuati market long after they had laid him to rest.
Mr Mwenda, 20, a miraa picker, was presumably buried on Friday, October 4, after his family claimed a body that was found in a house he used to live in with his estranged wife in Mutuati market. When he reappeared, Mr Mwenda said he had left the woman and relocated to Nthambiro, some 20 kilometres away.
“Since my work is picking miraa, I move from one place to another and I am rarely at home. I am shocked to find that my family buried me,” said Mwenda in dismay.
Interestingly, a colleague of Mr Mwenda’s at work said they had passed by Mwenda’s home on Friday when the burial was taking place. The grave is on a piece of land along Mutuati-Antubetwe Kiongo road and can be seen from the tarmac.
“We left Nthambiro in Igembe Central on Friday and travelled to another farm in Mutuati. We passed by Mwenda’s home and he wondered why there were so many people at his home but we went on our way,” the co-worker said.
“On Sunday, as we were packaging miraa, someone broke the news that Mwenda had been buried. Mwenda was so shocked that he could not work. He went to sleep,” the colleague recounted.
Meru family rejects police demand for exhumation fees after 'dead' relative resurfaces
After recovering from the shock, Mr Mwenda decided to return home to confirm the bizarre news. When Nation visited the home yesterday, their grief and despair was palpable. Mr Meeme M'Nchebere, Mr Mwenda’s father who lives in Voi, was still asleep having spent the night standing guard over the grave.
"We have been given strict instructions to ensure the body is not stolen," M'Nchebere said.
He said the police had told him to raise Sh70,000 to cover the costs of acquiring a court order, pathologist and exhumation.
But according to Mutuati Deputy County Commissioner Sylvester Mwangulu, the police were in the process of securing a court order to exhume the body.
"The DCIO [Directorate of Criminal Investigations Officer] has already sworn an affidavit and the matter was to be heard on Monday. However, the victim and his father did not appear in court. They are required in court before an order is issued," Mr Mwangulu.
He added that the matter was sensitive since the body that had been buried was collected from a murder scene.
He said the murder suspect, a woman, was still at large and was being hunted down by the police.
