A family in Shamshinjiri village, Kakamega county, are now seeking permission to exhume the body of a person they had mistaken for their relative.
Family to build new house for son who resurfaced days after 'burial'
After the burial, Joseph Aluchiri's family learned that they had buried the wrong body and their relative was alive
A file photo of a coffin
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The buried body, which was retrieved from River Yala, was mistaken for Joseph Aluchiri, whom the family members say had been missing for a while.
Family members confirmed they immediately rushed to the mortuary after news of a decomposing body retrieved from River Yala reached them.
Mourners who gathered at the home of Joseph Aluchiri who was thought to be dead
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According to one of the family members, the description of the body matched their relative, whom they say disappeared under unclear circumstances.
“The description matched my brother, who went missing under unclear circumstances. We went to the mortuary with our mother and her brothers but disagreed in identifying the body. We picked the body and planned for burial amid doubts within some of us,” explained Eveline Ayieta, sister to the 'deceased'.
After the burial, however, the family learned that their missing relative had been detained at Khwisero Police Station for a while and was now free and living in Nairobi.
The incident shocked the family and villagers and has been blamed on the man's mother and uncles.
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What next for the family
The village elder, James Omutula, directed that the family conducts a cleansing ceremony using a sheep and chicken for their son.
"The stomach remnants of the sheep will be used to send out the spirit of the wrong body that was brought to the home," Omutula said.
Moreover, the house where the body was laid before it was buried will be demolished, and a new one will be put up for Joseph Aluchiri.
Meanwhile, the family now wants the court to permit them to exhume the body so they can move on with life.
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The police have said that until the court issues the order to do so, there is nothing the family can do concerning the body.
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