Ruth Matete seeks court help to get husband’s body

Gospel musician and former Tusker Project Fame winner Ms Ruth Matete will this week seek the court’s permission to have the body of her husband released for burial.

The body has been lying at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) mortuary for over three weeks following a request by the Nigerian High Commission to have it detained until the Nigerian government approves its release.

“The High Commission wishes to state that, after the postmortem, the burial should be put on hold until it is in receipt of such directive from the Nigerian government while the mission awaits the conclusion of the investigations,” read the request signed by the embassy’s head of Chancery, Mr Mahmoud Lawal, on behalf of the High Commissioner.

Through her lawyer, Robert Odanga, Ms Matete now says the continued detention of Mr John Apewajoye’s body at the mortuary is increasing the medical bills she has been struggling to clear.

The deceased’s bills comprise a week’s admission at Bellevue Hospital in South C, plus those for his stay at KNH, where he was in the intensive care unit for about a week, until his death on April 11, plus those for the mortuary, where the body has been lying for over three weeks.

Ms Matete further notes there has been no official complainant in the case being investigated by DCI’s homicide detectives, and that the Nigerian Embassy did not give sufficient reasons to warrant holding the body, especially now that the post-mortem has been conducted and the results made public.

“It is common knowledge that the body cannot be subjected to a second postmortem because the initial exercise has already compromised the body. The toxicological test results are also out, so holding the body does not make sense, it only adds to her frustrations as a widow who is still mourning,” said Mr Odanga.

The artiste intends to have the court compel the Nigerian embassy to cater for her husband’s morgue fees for the days the body has been held at the facility.