Man forced to sleep next to wife’s casket awarded by court

KENYA – Man who was forced to spend cold night at a police station with his late wife’s body was consoled by the hight court when it awarded him Ksh.1.5 million in compensation for violation of his human rights.

Justice Edward Murithi ordered Charles Mwenda be paid  for the breach of his rights.

Charles Mwenda who hails from Tigania, Meru had travelled from Malindi on Wednesday, May 27, accompanied by several family members to bury his wife in Meru.

Prior to making the journey home, Mwenda claims he had obtained all the necessary documents and had even undergone a coronavirus test just to be sure.

With the requisite documents in hand, Mwenda crossed police barriers from Malindi until he got to the Meru-Tharaka Nithi border, where trouble began.

The officers proceeded to order everyone out of the car and demanded that everyone apart from the decedent’s husband returns to Malindi.

“We were at the final police barrier at Meru-Tharaka Nithi border at a place called Keeria, where we were stopped by police and forced out of the car.what I saw there was so inhuman, upon a lengthy discussion all my family and friends were forced back to malindi,” Mwendwa says.

After the incident, Mwenda who was left with his late wife’s body was ushered into a waiting police vehicle.

He claims that police officers threatened to cart him off to a 14-day quarantine if he did not comply.

The officers then dropped him off at the Kanjai police station. A long distance from his home.

His late wife’s body was also off-loaded from the police vehicle and placed by the roadside.

“I pleaded with the police to help me get the body to my home, which is 5 km from the police station, but they refused,” he adds.

That day and the entire night, he spent it all in the cold, with the casket containing his wife’s remains keeping him company.

When it started raining, Mwenda covered the coffin with a piece of tarp before pulling it under a lorry that had been packed at the station.

The next day, he was picked by a friend at around 6am and managed to get home to give his late wife her delayed, dignified send off albeit without his three children, family and friends.