By Wanja Waweru
When the body of a relative was brought back to Kenya from Italy with missing internal organs, a family in Malindi, Kilifi County, was perplexed.
An autopsy performed in the mortuary of the Malindi Referral Hospital found that Amani Justine Luwali’s body was devoid of important organs such as the heart, major blood vessels, kidneys, eyeballs, and liver.
James Karisa, Ms. Luwali’s older brother, claimed she had a daughter with an Italian husband. In 2016, the pair relocated to Italy.
“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.
However, the family began making preparations to return her body home after learning of intentions to cremate and bury her ashes in Italy.
“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 post mortem reads: “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.”
“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”.
The postmortem showed her uterus and bladder were 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.
