- Her father, Isaac Shatuma, and mother gave DNA samples for analysis and matching on August 19.
- The body was moved to Malava on Friday for burial over the weekend.
Image: FAMILY
Police have handed over the body of a woman dumped in Kware, Nairobi, to her Kakemega family.
Brenda Shatuma’s decomposing body was recovered at the dumpsite in in July. She was 24.
Her father, Isaac Shatuma, and mother gave DNA samples for analysis and matching on August 19, but complained that police were dragging their feet to give them the body.
“They gave us the body on Wednesday and now we are satisfied. We are moving the body home for the final rites,” Moses Kuloba, a cousin to the deceased, told the Star.
The body was moved to Malava on Friday for burial over the weekend.
“It has been a period of long and anxious waiting but at long last we are glad they gave it to us. We leave the rest to them as we bury our loved one and move on,” Kuloba said.
"At least, now after the burial the family can be free to go back to their daily routines. We are pained at the loss but we have accepted and wanted to move on."
The family is still keen on justice, and asked police to expedite investigations to arrest and charge the killer.
Shatuma had said his family was frustrated by the long wait for the body.
Since they received the news of his daughter’s disappearance and death on July 10, the family could not engage in any normal activity until Brenda was laid to rest.
Shatuma could neither resume work nor his children return school.
He works for Butali Sugar Company and has been on leave until September 12. He was worried the slow pace of investigations that necessitated holding of the body could cost him his job.
His daughter, who is a KCSE candidate, could not resume schooling.
“According to our culture, once a home is bereaved, nothing happens until burial,” he said.
“The fact is that my home is bereaved, everything is at a standstill and it is also expensive to host village and clan delegations. Police need to give us the body so we mourn and conclude this thing.”
Kuloba said Brenda’s body had no missing parts even though it was badly mutilated.
Her case is unlike that of Roselyne Ogongo. Only her upper body was recovered.
The family says police investigations suggest Brenda was lured by a fake job offer and killed.
“The police suggested to us that it is possible that someone lured her with a false promise of a job and then slaughtered her. I don’t understand why that would be the case,” Kuloba said.