Sharon’s husband refused to bury her

Pall bearers carry a coffin with the remains of the late Sharon Otieno from Kirindo mortuary on October 18,2018 to Magare village

According to Luo traditions when a woman dies she should be buried where she was married but this not not going to be the case of slain Rongo University student Sharon as her estranged husband refused to claim her body.

Sharon Otieno will be buried in Homa Bay today after her estranged husband allegedly failed to contact the family.The family gave Bernard Owuor from Migori county 44 days to bury her, but he did not show up.

Sharon’s body was removed from MED 25 International mortuary in Mbita and ferried to her grandfather’s home in Magare village, Homa Bay.The 26-year-old was strangled and stabbed eight times. She was seven months pregnant the time she was abducted and killed.

Mourners thronged the home waiting to view the body which arrived at 3.50 pm yesterday.

Sharon’s family yesterday said they decided to bury her at her grandfather Samuel Odege’s home in Magare because Owuor “failed to communicate”.

Residents carry
the coffin bearing
the remains of
Sharon Otieno in
Magare village,
Homa Bay,
yesterday
/ROBERT OMOLLO

However Sharon’s step paternal grandfather John Olweya and burial committee chairman Elijah Opiyo said Owour had not paid dowry to make the marriage official.

Olweya said Sharon will be buried in Odege’s homestead because a grandfather is considered an equivalent of a granddaughter’s husband. He said they waited long enough for Sharon’s husband to appear, but he did not.

Olweya said they stopped waiting for Owuor on Wednesday and decided to prepare the grave site. “We’re burying Sharon here because her husband failed to communicate to us. We assume she had not been married,” Olweya told journalists yesterday.

Sharon’s unborn baby was also buried in the same homestead. More than 2,000 mourners are expected at Sharon’s funeral.

Sharon’s body was found in Owade area near Wire Forest in Oyugis on September 4. This was a day after she was abducted.Last evening, her mother Melida Auma fainted when the body arrived at the home of her grandfather, Samuel Odege, from MED 25 mortuary in Homa Bay Town ahead of today’s ceremony.
Sharon's mother Melida Auma in tears after she arrived at Rachuonyo level 4 hospital to witness her daughter's autopsy, September 7,2018. /ROBERT OMOLLO

Migori Governor Okoth Obado, and his personal assistants Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero have been detained over Sharon’s death s they are the main suspects.

DNA results linked Mr Obado to the child Sharon was carrying but the governor’s lawyer, Cliff Ombeta, said this does not implicate the county boss in the murder and demanded that he be released on bail.

On the other hand of justice, police in Migori are investigating the death of another Rongo University student.

Kelvin Ngui, a fourth year student, disappeared on September 9. He was pursuing a degree in Tourism and Hospitality. His decomposing body was found near River Kuja.

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