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Kenyan victims to be buried in US

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Published on Saturday, 13 November 2010 02:29

The State of Minnesota, US, has released the remains of three Kenyan family members who were killed in a domestic assault last month for burial in New Jersey. The release of the remains of the late Bilha Ogendi, who was killed by her husband Justus Ogendi, alongside their two children, effectively ended a two-week standoff between the two families in the US.

Mr Danvas Omare, a brother to the slain victim had differed with his brother in-law, Mr Evans Kebabe who had requested for the bodies to be buried at their ancestral home in Kisii. In demanding that he buries his sister and the two children in New Jersey, Mr Omare argued that the marriage between his sister and her husband ended when he murdered her and the two children in cold blood.

"The fact that he killed them in cold blood, means he didn’t love them and so as far as we are concerned, the marriage ended," Omare told The Standard on the telephone from New Jersey last week.

However, Kebabe who lived with his brother and the slain victims in Minnesota argued that his family had the right to decide where the deceased should be buried. He said the family had decided they be buried in Kisii in accordance with the customary laws of Abagusii.

"Our two families came together and decided that we ship the remains home for burial according to our customs" Kebabe told The Standard on the phone from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The US laws state that the remains could only be released to the next of kin ,who in this case, is Omare of New Jersey. The victims will be laid to rest on Monday, November 15.