Police are detaining bodies of Mariam Kighenda & Amanda pending investigations & postmortem

Why police are detaining the bodies of Likoni Tragedy Victims

Mumbi Mutuko

October 15, 2019 2:47 PM

No burial yet

Governor Hassan Joho with the family of Likoni tragedy victims

The bodies of Mariam Kighenda and her daughter Amanda Mutheu are still in police custody.

Family members will have to wait before burying the two who died after their vehicle plunged into the Indian Ocean.

Police are detaining the bodies which were retrieved from the ocean on October 11 from the Likoni crossing channel.

Authorities have asked those who witnessed the vehicle plunging into the ocean to record statements with detectives at Likoni Police Station.

Vehicle that plunged into Indian Ocean Pulse Live Kenya

An autopsy is yet to be conducted on the two bodies as investigations are still pending.

Frustrations from the police

Likoni Sub-county police commander Benjamin Rotich stated: “We are appealing to those who witnessed the accident to come record statements and help us in investigations.”

Police told the family that they have to wait for the Chief Government Pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor to arrive for the postmortem to be carried out.

John Wambua, the husband to Ms Kighenda, expressed frustrations that police had delayed the post-mortem examinations that were scheduled for Monday.

Vehicle that plunged into Indian Ocean Pulse Live Kenya

He said that though the family had hired their own pathologist, the police had insisted on including a government pathologist, who, by last evening, had not arrived.

“The burial is being delayed because of the autopsy. I have been at the police station the whole day and up to now we have not seen the government pathologist,” Mr Wambua said.

Mumbi Mutuko