Police exhume body of elderly woman ‘killed and buried’ by her son

The body of a 70-year-old woman allegedly killed by her son and secretly buried in a shallow grave has been exhumed.

Joyce Wanjiru hailed from Kirimahiga village in Mathioya constituency, Murang'a County.

Her body was exhumed in a six-hour operation on Wednesday by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and homicide department under the supervision of public health officers.

Wanjiru is believed to have been murdered in cold blood by her 45-year-old son, who is said to be mentally unstable.

The suspect, Samuel Mukiria, is in police custody and reportedly confessed to the killing last Friday after being confronted by locals, who demanded to know the whereabouts of his mother, who had been reported missing.

Joel Njema, the family spokesperson, said the past few days have been tough for the family. 

Court order

It took a while for the police to obtain a court order to exhume the body, he said.

“It has not been easy. It has been a traumatising time for us to have a body buried in the shallow grave for days because we could see the shallow grave but could not remove the body," he said.

"We plan to give her a decent burial on Saturday, but as of now, we are just waiting for the investigators to give us their findings."

Area Chief Lawrence Munga said the suspect was arraigned in a Kangema court and had admitted killing his mother.

“He is set to appear again in two weeks’ time after undergoing a mental assessment as ordered by the court."

Mathioya sub-county Deputy Police Commander Thomas Wang'oe said the exhumation ended successfully.

He said the suspect is being held at the Kiriaini Police Station.

“The homicide detectives will take the remains to the Murang'a Level Five Hospital mortuary for a postmortem," he said.