A court in Meru was on Tuesday told how former government pathologist Moses Njue stole the heart and kidney of a dead man under mysterious circumstances without the family’s consent.
One of the pathologists who carried out a postmortem on the body of the late Benedict Karau told a magistrate in Meru that Dr Njue took away the two organs after the autopsy, claiming he was going to carry out further histology tests.
Dr Scholastica Kimani, who is attached to Meru Level Five Hospital, told Meru Senior Resident Magistrate Evans Mbicha that after the postmortem, Njue wrapped up the organs and left with them.
Kimani narrated to the court how her pleas to Njue to return the organs fell on deaf ears as he kept on postponing and giving excuses.
During the postmortem, Kimani was representing the government while Njue had been retained by Ms Martha Gakou, the third widow of Mzee Karau, who was with him when he died in March 2015.
Kimani said Njue, who was accompanied by some students from Kings Medical College, recorded the cause of death as heart attack because of a clot in one of the arteries.
The family claims that the missing organs were meant to conceal the correct cause of death. Before hearing began on Tuesday, Gakou called for an adjournment so that her lawyer could be enjoined in the matter, claiming she had been adversely mentioned during the inquest. The inquest continues on August 1.