Morgue wants out of family, pathologist fight over dead man’s stolen heart

Through lawyer Herman Omiti, the funeral home indicates no allegations have been made against it by the family of the deceased, whose heart was allegedly extracted and went missing at the morgue during an autopsy in June 2015.

When the case came up for hearing on Wednesday before Justice James Makau, the lawyer told court that after perusing the petition he realised nothing requires his client’s participation.

In seeking court’s permission to leave the court dispute, the lawyer however said some of the orders sought by the family will be directed to his client if granted.

“They should leave with the court permission so that no order will be made against them,” said Mr Omiti adding that in the alternative the entire petition should be struck out.

The family through lawyer Mary Muigai said the morgue was dragged in the case because the deceased’s heart got lost when the body was in their custody.

Ms Muigai added that the funeral home had earlier sought to leave the case and Justice John Mativo had ruled that it was upon them to participate or not.

In the court papers the family led by Jostone Kassim Muumbo wants the court to compel the pathologist and the morgue to release the lost body part.

One witness, Carolyn Muumbo, a daughter of the deceased, testified that there was collusion to conceal the truth about her father’s cause of death.

Ms Muumbo, who is also an advocate, told the court his father, 83, collapsed and died on June 22, 2015, at his home in Kileleshwa.

The body was taken to Lee Funeral Home for preservation.

Two days later, a post-mortem was conducted as Ms Muumbo and her siblings, Mr Jonston Kassim

Muumbo and Mr Alex Munyasya sought to know the cause of their father's death.

They had been told that he had died of a heart attack. The family asked Dr Njue to carry out the post-mortem with the agreement he would give them the results in two weeks.

Dr Njue failed to meet the deadline and they served him with a demand letter. The three later learnt that the report Dr Njue submitted was similar to another one filed by the police and another prepared by a doctor hired by the family.

The three opted for a second post-mortem, this time by Prof Emily Rogena. She did not conduct it after it was discovered that vital organs, including the heart, were missing.

This prompted the family to seek court’s redress with orders compelling the pathologist to produce the organs. A statement filed in court said Dr Njue told the family that the kidney and parts of the stomach were taken to the police and that he could not account for the heart.

Dr Njue and his son, Mr Lemuel Anasha Mureithi, were later charged at a magistrate court with stealing Muumbo’s heart. They were released on a cash bail of Sh300,000 each.

The hearing aborted on Wednesday after the family’s witness, a doctor, left the virtual court session. The case was adjourned to June 23, 2021.