Body 'stolen' from mortuary recovered from Murang’a gravesite

By Cyrus Ombati

Kenya: The body of a businesswoman reportedly ‘stolen’ from Mater Hospital mortuary last week has been traced to a gravesite in Kayu area in Kangema, Murang’a County.

Police had visited a number of gravesites in Nairobi and Muranga in search of the body of Ms Gladys Luhungu Ritho which went missing hours before burial.

The detectives from Makadara division visited graves in various cemeteries in Nairobi on Wednesday and Thursday.

Another team visited Ritho’s farm in Murang’a Thursday following reports the body may have been interred there.

Makadara division head of CID Mr Zack Nanguli said they will wait from the family to hear if it's

Nanguli said efforts to trace the whereabouts of Ritho’s son Geoffrey had been fruitless.

The detectives had visited the airport to establish if he had flown out but did not find any useful information. Geoffrey stays in the US.

“If he flew out he did not use JKIA or any other Kenyan airport. We are yet to find him for interrogation over this issue,” said Nanguli.

Body stolen from mortuary

On Wednesday, three workers at the Mater Hospital, Nairobi were questioned in connection with alleged “stealing” of the body from the morgue.

The three who included a mortuary attendant were picked up from their place of work and taken to Industrial Area police station where they were grilled and later recorded statements before being released.

The body had been lying at the Mater Hospital Mortuary until last Saturday when a group of family members led by Geoffrey produced documents including a burial permit to the hospital officials and cleared the bills before being allowed to pick it up.

But another group led by Ritho’s daughter identified as Elizabeth Muthoni visited the mortuary minutes after the body had been taken away and claimed the documents used to take it were “fake”.

This prompted them to report to police.

Family feud

Ms Ritho died on October 14, 2013 as the family was in a deep feud on the control of a Sh3 billion estate of ailing city lawyer Samuel Kanogo Ritho, the husband of Gladys.

She had before her death won a temporary court battle to manage the estate. There have been claims she was poisoned.

It is understood that the hospital has blocked at least two attempts by one of her sons to pick her body for burial without the consent of the rest of the family.

The fallout — which started in British courts over who between the sons and wife would take care of the ailing lawyer, where he should live and who should legally control the estate — had escalated into several months of standoff on the burial of Mrs Ritho in Nairobi.

Before she died from what doctors say was “excessive bleeding”, Mrs Ritho fiercely fought four of her children in both the Kenyan and British courts to take charge of the estate.

They had been married for 47 years. She had also tried in vain while in the UK to bring her ailing husband back to Kenya.

She had also been struggling to make ends meet after she was cut off from the family fortune, forcing her to turn to the courts.

Mrs Ritho won the first round of the Kenyan case last May when she received an injunction stopping six of her children from running the multibillion estate.

Poisoning

Initial post-mortem examination results have pointed investigators towards poison, but pathologists ordered for three sets of tests, among them a toxicology report to give conclusive answers on what killed Mrs Ritho.

“The deceased, who is aged 70 years, complained of stomach ache. She started vomiting and she was rushed to Mater Hospital where she died while undergoing treatment,” read a police report requesting the government pathologist to examine her body.

“As a result of my examination, I formed the opinion that the cause of death was disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) pending histology, serology and toxicology,” Dr Oduor Johansen, government pathologist, said in his preliminary report.

The same conclusion was made by Dr Emily Rogena, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi’s department of human pathology.

Spring Valley police, who have been investigating the case, forwarded specimen to the government for a full toxicology, a test done to detect if poisoning was the cause of the abnormal bleeding, referred in medical parlance as disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).

Also to be tested is a list of 11 food items picked from Mrs Ritho’s Loresho home among them vegetables, cooked yams, a packet of fresh milk, fried fish and chicken. Police are also investigating one of her cooks at the Loresho residence.

The post-mortem examination reports showed Mrs Ritho developed severe abdominal pains after a meal while at home.

Mrs Ritho was taken to MP Shah Hospital as an outpatient. She had a ‘bloody diarrhoea and vomiting’ for two days. At home, the pain worsened. She was taken to Mater Hospital, where she died on October 14, after five days at the hospital.

The fallout has split the family into two, putting on hold burial plans until Mr Ritho, who is currently in London for treatment, confirms that he is aware of the death of his spouse.

Mr Ritho, who was the Chief Adjudication Officer at the then Ministry of Lands and Settlements in the 1990s before switching to the legal profession, owns over 30 prime real estate properties in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa, Loresho and Eastleigh estates.

Ritho also has properties in Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi and Murang’a. The property attracts a Sh5 million rental income every month.

Mr Ritho founded SK Ritho & Company Advocates, where he practised law until 2009, when he suffered a stroke. He was then moved to London for further treatment, marking the beginning of trouble for the family.