Mbeya court orders relatives to bury member, 78 days since death
What you need to know:
Frank died on June 4 and his body has been preserved at the Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital’s morgue. According to the management of the hospital, the body has been there for 78 days now.
Mbeya. The Mbeya Resident Magistrate Court on Friday, August 24, ordered the family of Frank Kapange to collect his body after rejecting their application demanding further investigations into circumstances leading to his death.
Frank died on June 4 and his body has been preserved at the Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital’s morgue. According to the management of the hospital, the body has been there for 78 days now.
The family boycotted collecting the body for burial demanding to first get full details of what led to his death in the hands of the police. This led to the application that was filed before the court.
However, the respondent asked the court to annul the application on the grounds that they failed to meet legal procedures.
Delivering the ruling, Resident Magistrate Michael Mteite said the court was satisfied with the arguments presented by the respondent, the Republic.
The complainants had erred in their certificate of oath as it was prepared by their advocate instead of the applicant.
He said, the advocate of the plaintiff was not keen as he even failed to submit the written evidence after the court instructed the two parties to debate in writing within 14 days.
Mr Mteite said the ruling also considered that African traditions demanded that bodies of the deceased should be buried soonest so as to relieve the relatives of the pain for a long time.
“On that ground, the court is instructing the managing director of the Mbeya Zone Referral Hospital to discharge the body to his relatives for burial. And, the hospital management will have to cooperate with the office of Mbeya City Council to bury the body if the relatives will maintain their stand,” he said.
Magistrate Mteite said the appeal window was open according to the law for either party that wasn’t satisfied with the ruling.
Speaking outside the court, relatives said they were not satisfied with the ruling and that they would file an appeal.
“We are waiting for a charge sheet before filing an appeal,” they told The Citizen.
