Man’s body exhumed over land dispute

Residents of Sirodha, North West Gem were dumbfounded when a body of a 39-year-old man, who was buried on a disputed land, was exhumed under tight security Thursday, October 6 evening.

North West Gem location chief, Barrack Otieno Opondo, told Radio Ramogi that the body was exhumed and taken to Siaya County Referral Hospital mortuary as per a court order.

The body of Peter Enos Odanga, who was buried two months ago, was exhumed following an order that was issued to the land owner by Siaya Principal Magistrate’s court on Wednesday, October 5, 2016.

According to Opondo, the brother to the deceased, Francis Odanga, had bought a piece of land from a Mr Philip Agak in the year 2008. Mr Agak passed on in 2014.

He said that Francis Odanga, who has been staying away, only came back two months ago to bury his late brother Peter Odanga, when one of the old man’s sons directed him to the disputed portion of land.

Opondo said that Francis began putting up a structure on the piece of land before its genuine owner, Dickson Otieno, who also claimed to have bought it from the late Mzee Agak, tried to stop him in vain.

Chief Opondo added that Odanga went ahead and buried his late brother on the disputed land without delay only to discover two months later that he was buried on a wrong piece of land.

He says that the court established that Francis’ portion was a different one next to the disputed one, hence an order was directed towards him to demolish the structure and exhume his late brother’s body.

 Written by Diing Magot