Boy’s body buried secretly in Laikipia exhumed
The Form One student at Ndurumo Day Secondary School and 24 others were circumcised on December 15.
The body of a boy buried secretly after he was circumcised has been exhumed.
The Form One student at Ndurumo Day Secondary School and 24 others were circumcised on December 15.
He died on December 28.
The body was hurriedly buried by his father Julius Chesang and the caregiver Sitieni Kibiomet. The boy’s father was later questioned by police while the caregiver fled.
During investigations detectives established that prior to Mr Chesang’s son's death; another initiate had also died.
On Thursday, the two led detectives, officers from the government pathologists and government chemist to the scene where they had buried the body.
“We obtained a court order to exhume the body that we have executed today. We were joined by family members who positively identified the body as that of their son,” said Laikipia West Deputy County Commissioner Hezron Nyamberi.
Though detectives had early reported that the boy could have succumbed to an unknown infection that he developed after circumcision, Mr Nyamberi noted that an autopsy that was conducted on Thursday by a government pathologist revealed that the boy did not die out of complications related to the rite of passage.
The Nation has also established that three other initiates who underwent the exercise together with the deceased and were under the care of Mr Kibiomet had been seeking medication from a medical practitioner in Rumuruti town.
“It early reported that the two died due to complications related to the exercise but after post-mortem the government pathologist has ruled out the reports. Detectives have collected samples for further investigations to establish the cause of deaths,” said Mr Nyamberi.
Laikipia West DCIO Stephen Ambani, noted that the body had been buried in a shallow grave.
“After conducting the autopsy and taking samples we made sure that the body which had been buried in a shallow grave was buried properly,” said Mr Ambani.
The rite of passage for the 25 young men was administered by a clinical officer before the initiates were handed to the caregiver.
