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The Court of Appeal has stopped the burial of a Meru businessman in a dispute pitting his two wives.

Appellate judges Gatembu Kairu, Lydia Achode and Ngenye Macharia suspended the burial of Silas Kamuta Igweta, who died aged 100 years, for 30 days pending the determination of an appeal filed by the second wife Sarah Kathambi and her two daughters Purity Kinya and Miriam Makena.

Stopping the burial, the three judges said that the appeal filed by Sarah is arguable and has a high chances of success.

The judges ruled; “if stay of the burial of Kamuta is not granted as sought and the appeal succeeds it will be rendered nugatory.”

They added that if the burial proceeds as directed by Justice S Riechi on May 21, 2024, it will cause unnecessary embarrassment, hardship and indignity.

Court determines

The judges concurred with lawyer Danstan Omari for Sarah that enforcement of the orders post-internment would entail exhumation and relocation of the remains of the deceased which would hurt all the parties in the case.

The judges ordered the body of Kamuta to remain in the morgue until the court determined the final resting place upfront.

“The upshot is that Sarah’s application for stay of burial has merit and the interment of the deceased remains be and is hereby stayed pending the hearing and determination of the main appeal,” the judges ruled.

Kamuta died on February 17, 2024, and his first wife Grace Rigiri Silas and her son Mathew Kobia Igweta filed a suit seeking permission to bury him.

The second family challenged the suit saying Kamuta had separated from Rigiri for 40 years and was living with them.

They told the court that Kamuta had expressed his wish to be buried by Sarah and her family at their farm in Lairangi/Muumuu under the Meru customary law.

The second family said they spent Sh5,563,527 on the deceased’s medical bills.