Angry mourners have attacked and beaten up a dead body silly after mistaking the corpse for another person in mortuary mix-up.
According to a report by SDE, the
body of a dead man was thoroughly caned, abused and kicked last week
before an elaborate ritual that lasted several hours was done, after a
family mistook it for one of their kin’s.
The family of the deceased in Masat
East, Ugenya, Kenya had prepared everything, including digging a grave,
in readiness to give the old man a decent send-off.
But they were left in shock when they
discovered that the body the morticians had given them was not that of
the late 70-year-old man.
The sad news was that they had taken somebody else’s body, which had to be taken back immediately.
This caused anxiety and panic among the mourners when rumour spread that the body was not that of their man.
Concerned elders swung into action and informed them that some rites had to be performed before giving back the body.
Immediately it was confirmed that indeed they had the wrong corpse, the enraged mourners didn’t waste time.
They opened the casket, and descended on the corpse with kicks, blows and hurled obscenities at it.
This, they said, they did in line with
the Luo traditions to ward off evil spirits, saying the incident was an
abomination that could bring along evil spirits; a bad omen that was
likely to haunt them if rituals were not going to be performed.
No sooner had they finished carrying out
the ‘cleansing’ ritual than a group of angry men and women stormed the
home accusing them of stealing the dead body of their relative.
The area assistant chief says the
bereaved family could not believe their eyes when another family stormed
their home, demanding a corpse.
Elderly mourners intervened and requested the charged younger men and women to calm down so that they solve the matter amicably.
The two families then agreed to carry the body back to the mortuary to find out from the morticians what had led to the mix-up.
Again, at the mortuary, drama unfolded
as the enraged family members engaged the mortuary attendants in a
heated exchange, some wailing uncontrollably and blaming the misfortune
on perceived family enemies.
After close to an hour, the attendants
owned up and explained the mix-up, and how they had released the body of
another 65-year-old man from Nyalenya village, from the neighbouring
Karadolo East sub location instead.
After a bitter exchange and
negotiations, the two families opened the casket carrying the remains of
the other man and were perplexed to find out that the body was not
their man’s.
However, the family of the deceased from Ugenya felt relieved after finding the remains of their kin.
The family surrendered the other corpse
to the mortuary attendants and sped off to Uhumwa village in a pick-up
with the right body. The other family was left at the morgue wailing and
cursing as morticians prepared the beaten-up body.
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