A family in Malindi, Kilifi County, is puzzled after the body of their relative was brought back to Kenya from Italy with missing internal organs.
A postmortem conducted at the Malindi Referral Hospital mortuary revealed the body of Amani Justine Luwali was missing vital organs, including the heart, major blood vessels, kidneys, eyeballs and liver.
Ms Luwali’s elder brother, James Karisa, said she married an Italian man and the two had a daughter. The couple moved to Italy in 2016.
“We learnt of my sister’s demise on September 27 this year. We received a phone call from one of our relatives in Italy that she was found dead in her house,” Mr Karisa said.
But on hearing about plans to cremate and bury her remains in Italy, the family started working to bring her body home.
“Her body was flown to Kenya on October 27 and a postmortem was conducted on November 3,” Mr Karisa said.
When Ms Luwali’s body was found, it had bloodstains on the nose and mouth, prompting her family in Kenya to order a postmortem to establish the cause of death.
“The appearance of the body revealed her eyes to be sunken but her eyelids were together. Under the cardiovascular system, the body was missing the heart, and all major blood vessels including the aorta were not present,” reads the postmortem report seen by the Nation.
The family of Amani Justine Luwali whose body was brought back to Kenya from Italy with missing organs. With them is Mathias Shipeta of Haki Africa, a human rights lobby group, who urged a speedy investigation into the woman’s death.
“Both kidneys, and patella of both right and left lower limbs, were also missing and bone marrow was extracted. Both her left and right eyeballs were missing and replaced by plastic oval objects.”
The report said the cause of death could not be determined due to “missing vital organs such as heart, liver, both kidneys, and major blood vessels. It appears organ harvesting has been done”.
But her uterus and bladder were recorded to be intact.
Ms Luwali was 35 when she died. The family said she had endured domestic violence from her husband.
“When we talked in March, my sister had informed me she had filed for divorce but her husband rejected the idea and he did not even show up for the hearings,” Mr Karisa said.
They reported the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Malindi and Interpol, which is investigating.
The family suspects foul play, said Mr Mathias Shipeta of Haki Africa, a human rights lobby group, urging a speedy investigation into the death. BY DAILY NATION