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Ruth Matete Finally Free to Bury Nigerian Husband, Three Months Later

Published

9 months ago-

July 7, 2020

Kevin Ochieng

It is more than three months since the death of Ruth Matete’s husband, John Apewajoye. His body has been lying in the mortuary as detective officers continue with their investigations on the cause of his death.

The gospel singer has now been given a go ahead signal to bury her Nigerian husband as the hospital bill continue to soar high.

Apewajoye’s remains have been lying at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) mortuary for more than three months now.

According to a local newspaper ( Daily Nation), the bill has accrued to over Sh677,000 as at Friday last week.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) had requested the Kenyatta National Hospital to waive the mortuary but the management declined to grant the request to the family.

“We hereby request that you consider waiving the body storage charges since the retention of the body was as a result of a request by the Nigerian High Commission to have time to consult the deceased’s brothers in Nigeria,” part of the letter dated June 8 read.

The Nigerian High Commission in Kenya has gone ahead to consent the burial of the Nigerian citizen. Earlier on, they had maintained that the body will not be buried until the investigations into the circumstances that led to John Apewajoye’s death were concluded.

According to a postmortem carried out on his body by the government pathologist, Dr. Johansen Oduor, it was revealed that Apewajoye died as a result of the Complications from the 60 percent burns he got from their home.

This cleared Matete’s name as earlier reported that she had a hand in her husbands death.

Robert Odanga, Ruth Matete’s lawyer told the press that the case has greatly affected his client negatively as she cannot go about her life as before. This has well affected her livelihood.

“At the moment everything is at a standstill, she cannot launch her album, teach at her music school or preach at her church with the dark cloud hanging over her name. The public perception is stacked against her,” Mr Odanga said.

Apewajoye died on April 11 after sustaining burn injuries from their home. At the time of his death, he left behind two children in Nigeria and unborn baby with Ruth Matete.