The burial of murdered Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen has been postponed to Tuesday.
Cohen’s body was found in the septic in his compound, almost 60 days after he was reported missing.
The ceremony was initially planned for Monday afternoon at the Jewish Cemetery on Prof Wangari Mathai Road in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
The burial planners said they only managed to get eight Jewish priests, instead of the required 10, hence they decided to postpone the burial to Tuesday at 2.30pm EAT (11.30am GMT).
Robert Cohen, the late tycoon’s brother, and lawyer Danstan Omari had arrived for the ceremony Monday. The media was barred from the event.
Cohen’s widow, Ms Sarah Wairimu had also arrived for the private ceremony which was to be attended by a few family members.
Ms Wairimu is a suspect in the murder of her husband. The High Court had directed the officer commanding Lang’ata Women Prison, where she is being held, to escort her to attend Cohen’s burial.
Lawyer George Ouma appearing with Philip Murgor for Sarah Wairimu in the murder case against her, said all the parties held a meeting and agreed she be allowed to attend the funeral.
“We have agreed with family lawyer Cliff Ombeta that Sarah be allowed to attend the burial of her late husband,” Mr Ouma said.
He said it will not be prejudicial or harmful if she attends the burial ceremony.
Mr Ombeta said they had agreed that there was no need to engage in a fresh round of legal tussle.
“We met on September 19 before this application was filed and agreed there is no need of a tag of war over attendance. There is no property in a corpse,” Mr Ombeta told the judge.
State prosecutor Nicholas Muteti said the State is not taking sides in the matter.
“Ours is to facilitate the parties once they agree,” Mr Muteti said.
In her brief ruling, the judge said the parties have made the court’s work easy by agreeing on the issues.
After the ruling, Mr Ombeta said this is the first case where a murder suspect is being escorted to attend the burial of the victim she is accused of murdering.
He also said Mr Cohen’s sister flew out of the country to attend to some urgent issues back at home.
Mr Cohen’s brother Bernard would preside over the funeral since, under the Jewish customs, “a brother buries the brother”, Mr Ombeta added.
Sarah will be appearing before Justice Jessie Lesiit to plead to a charge of murdering her husband.
Mr Cohen’s Will was released to the family last week ahead of his burial.
Lawyer Chege Kirundi, who drew the Will, said he released it to Cohen’s relatives ahead of the funeral because it included details of how he wanted to be buried.
“I released the Will to Cohen’s brother and his sister to see his wishes. Whatever they will do with it is up to them,” Mr Kirundi said.
He said that after the burial, contents of the Will may be made public.
