Ritho kin now want body exhumed
A feud that has rocked the family of city lawyer Samuel Ritho deepened on Wednesday with some relatives asking the court for orders to exhume the body of his wife which was taken from The Mater Hospital in controversial circumstances and hurriedly buried in Murang’a.
Ms Gladys Ritho, 70, died at Mater five months ago.
Men suspected to have forged documents authorising them to collect her body took it away on February 22, before a team of detectives in the case found a fresh grave at the lawyer’s former homestead in Murang’a which is currently under the watch of an elderly female caretaker.
“There are suspicions of foul play, the body could be different and our clients want it exhumed,” a lawyer in the suit told judge Luka Kimaro.
The lawyer said the exhumation would aid ongoing investigations. The matter was certified as urgent and will be determined in two week’s time.
Ms Elizabeth Muthoni, Mrs Ritho’s daughter who took Mater Hospital to task for releasing the body, claiming the documents used for clearance were “forgeries” filed the suit.
She claims she is the sole custodian of an original death certificate and burial permit. Her suit names a health professional, a registrar of births and deaths and a section of family members as respondents.
The family has been split over the control of the multi-billion shillings estate whose administration a court had placed in Mrs Ritho’s hands before she died mysteriously in Nairobi.