Desperate carpenter leaves coffin outside hospital

Two travel-weary men arrived at Kwale Subcounty Hospital on Friday morning with a coffin and asked to do business with the senior mortuary attendant.

This request was unusual to the guards at the gate who are used to people coming with coffins to collect their loved ones' bodies.

Matuga OCS Ludwin Sasati said the two arrived at 5am and looked exhausted, as though they had travelled a long way.

“When they were stopped at the gate and asked if they had come for a relative, they said they were there for some business with the senior mortuary attendant,” he said.

When the security officers pressed them further for the nature of the business, the two men left, leaving the coffin behind. 

 

This caused panic and a crowd began to form.

The mortuary attendants called the police thinking it was some sort of sorcery.

Later, police officers found the owner of the coffin and it turned out he was looking for a place to dispose of it. 

Sylvester Odero, a carpenter, said he had made the coffin for a cousin who died in Malindi last month.

However, due to Covid-19 restriction he was unable to deliver it.

“Due to miscommunication, other family members bought a coffin, and I did not have any place to take this one. I decided to take it to the mortuary,” he said.

Odero told the police he meant no harm. “I was only looking for a market for this coffin,” he said.

The police escorted Odero and his accomplice back to Ukunda and told him keep the coffin in his workshop until he finds a client.