Kware bodies: Death toll hits 10 as pathologists face investigation hurdles

• Government confirms 10 female deaths in the Kware tragedy.
• Bodies discovered in the Kware area of Mukuru slums
• Significant challenges in autopsies due to advanced decomposition

The government has confirmed that ten bodies, all belonging to women, have been discovered in the Kware area of Mukuru slums.

This grim tally comes as the investigation faces significant challenges due to the advanced state of decomposition of many of the remains.

Government pathologist Dr.Johansen Oduor, who leads the post-mortem examinations, provided an overview of the findings.

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Decomposed remains hinder detailed analysis.

Oduor revealed that some of the bodies had decomposed to the point where detailed analysis was nearly impossible.

"The contents of four of the bodies were lower limbs, amputated from the knees downwards. There were two right legs and two left legs, extending from the waist to the knee," he said.

In addition to the limbs, the team identified upper body parts with significant head injuries, indicating that the victims likely succumbed to excessive brain bleeding. One of the trunks examined, which was from the waist upwards, had injuries consistent with strangulation.

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Among the remains was the complete body of a female victim who also had a head injury.

"There was also a whole body of a female who had a head injury. Bodies that are severely decomposed become very difficult to assign the cause of death because there are what we call post-mortem artifacts where so many tissues have gotten lost because of decomposition," Oduor noted.

DNA analysis to reconcile body parts

Despite the difficulties posed by decomposition, the team did not find any injuries that could be attributed to bullets, either externally or through further examination of the bodies.

Oduor emphasised the importance of DNA analysis in reconciling the body parts, which would help determine the total number of victims.

"We are also taking samples for DNA to reconcile each piece so we can know how many bodies we have. Right now, we can find a right limb or left limb, but we cannot tell if it belongs to one person," he said.

Government confirms all victims are female

In a press address on July 18, Government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura confirmed that the number of deaths reported by the police in Kware stands at 10 so far.

According to him, the cases are being treated as instances of femicide since all the victims are women.

"Police count on Kware bodies is 10, being treated as cases of femicide because the victims are all women," Mwaura stated.

Ongoing investigations

The autopsies come in the wake of a grim discovery at the Kware dumpsite on the afternoon of July 17, when a skull was found and subsequently taken to the Nairobi City Mortuary.