A Kenyan man has been taken into police custody for 14 days after being charged to court for faking the death of his son.
Catherine Mugo, Kikuyu Senior Resident Magistrates, approved a miscellaneous application filed by the Kabete police to continue keeping the suspect identified as Wilson Isoyi in detention to enable them complete their investigation.
The middle-aged man was apprehended on Monday, January 30, at Gaitubi, Kabete sub-county after mourners realized that he had lied to them that his son had passed away.
It was reported that he informed neighbours and friends that his son disappeared on January 5, 2023, only for his lifeless body to be found by police two days later. The suspect’s loved ones immediately began preparing for the burial which was to be held in Emuhaya, Vihiga county.
Mourners and well-wishers managed to raise more than Ksh 100,000 to cater for the boy’s decent interment and handed the same to the ‘bereaved’ family.
Wilson’s mischief started bubbling to the surface when the eulogy printer asked for the photo of his child which he didn’t have. His neighbour, Mary Wanjik told newsmen;
“When we had already given him the money for the casket and hearse plus the printing of the burial program and eulogy, we were now waiting for the burial day.
The burial preparation committee told him to avail a photo of the boy but he had none. He started giving flimsy excuses including the fact that it’s against his cultural beliefs to put it in the eulogy.
When the burial day came, the unsuspecting mourners gathered at the city mortuary ready to take the body and transport it to Emuhaya for the burial only for the suspect to disappear mysteriously.
Another neighbour said;
“He had told us that we would find the hearse and the casket plus a public address system at the city mortuary. Much to our chagrin, there was nothing like that and the man was nowhere to be seen.”
Wilson, who is now facing charges of obtaining cash through false pretence emerged from his hideout last Sunday and irate neighbours reported him to authorities who then arrested him.
It was also gathered that during the fake burial preparations, he stole a mobile phone belonging to one committee member but the matter was resolved internally.
