Drama At General Kago Funeral Home As Kins Stop Burial Of 4 Family Members.

James Wachira (Second Left) is taken to safety by his relatives after he was roughed up by Teresia Wambui’s family.

There was drama at the General Kago Funeral Home on Saturday when the family of a woman who was allegedly killed by her husband along with her two children allegedly last week in Makuyu, Murang’a County, blocked the removal of the bodies from the morgue on Saturday.

Teresia Wambui (22) and her two children aged 3 and 1 were allegedly killed by her husband Bernard Kiiru, who later committed suicide.

The kins’ ire was that the Kiiru's employer, James Wachira, had concealed the circumstances under which the family perished. He is said to have tricked Wambui’s father, Christopher Ndirangu, into signing and swearing an affidavit ruling out a postmortem. The two are said to have later taken the affidavit to Makuyu Police Station and a burial permit was issued.

The bodies were to be buried at Kiandutu cemetery.

“I and the family of the deceased have agreed that we do not need a postmortem and we have no claim to anybody. I swear this affidavit to all concerned authorities to release the body of the deceased to the family for preparation for burial,” read part of the affidavit sworn by Ndirangu on October 27.

Members of Ndirangu’s extended family, however, said they were not informed of the plans to cancel the postmortem and the reason behind its cancellation.

“Wachira has been buying Ndirangu drinks since the demise of the family and we don’t know how he convinced the father not to do a postmortem. But we won’t allow the bodies to be buried before we know the cause of the deaths because we are suspecting that the family was assassinated,” said John Mbogo a family member.

Mbogo alleged that Wachira was hiding serious information on the deaths since he was the one speeding up burial of the deceased by footing all bills that arose for the burial.

“This man has been with the deceased family for two weeks but after the deaths he has been in the forefront to have them buried hurriedly. He footed the bill at the morgue, bought coffins and even paid sh. 7,000 for the cemetery without our knowledge. Why is he rushing things without including the bereaved families? His deeds are raising suspicions that he knows the cause of the deaths,” asked Mbogo.

“The information Wachira has been giving us regarding the whole ordeal doesn’t add up. We are wondering how an entire family can be killed in the morning without them hearing commotion or screams. I’ve visited the home and the deceased’s house is only yards away from Wachira’s,” argued Mbogo.

Mary Wandia another family member said that they want the cause of the deaths and the mystery surrounding the deaths unraveled so that justice can be served.

Wachira however, after being roughed up by the bereaved family members, said that he was just helping the family bury their dead out of good will since they were ‘poor’ and couldn’t raise postmortem cash or foot bills.

“We agreed with the family that they will be buried in the public cemetery because it’d have cost them over sh. 70,000 to transport the bodies to their village,” Wachira said.

However, Ndirangu changed his mind and said that he will bury his daughter and her two children at their Gitugi village land.

“I was of the opinion that they be buried in Thika but I now have to respect the will of my extended family, especially Wambui’s grandmother, that a postmortem be done and they be buried in Othaya,” he said.

Police officers had to be called in to intervene and resolve the conflict. They ordered that the two families settle on a unanimous decision.

Wambui’s family was advised to seek permission from relevant authorities to have a postmortem done to ascertain the cause of the deaths.

“We will have the postmortem done and once we are satisfied with the results we will bury the deceased,” Mbogo said.

Joseph Kairu, Kiiru’s father, said that he was ready to bury his son on Saturday adding that he will petition with the relevant authorities the decision of having a postmortem done saying that it will be too costly for him.

“I just want to bury my son because no matter what investigations will be done he won’t come back to life,” Kairu said.

The bodies are still lying at General Kago Funeral Home and will be buried on a later date once the postmortem is done and the dispute solved.