Shakahola massacre: Gov't to release DNA results for 429 victims next week

Families of the 429 victims of the Shakahola massacre will finally be able to bury their kin after the government announced that the DNA results for the exhumed bodies will be released next week.

Chief government pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor, while speaking on the sidelines of this year’s KEMRI Scientific and Health Conference on Thursday, said the families whose DNA results will be out  will be allowed to proceed with proper burial of their kin even as the next phase of exhumation of bodies in the vast Shakahola forest resumes in March. 

The pathologist said the multi-sectoral team that is involved in the Shakahola exercise will be meeting in the coming week ahead of the next phase of exhumations.

“We have not gotten the result of DNA but we understand that there are DNAs which are ready...I don’t know the number but I think in a week’s time we’re going to sit down and look at them then proceed to Malindi so that we can try release a number of bodies which have been identified,” Dr. Oduor said.

The pathologist said one of the biggest challenges in the identification process is lack of cooperation from family members due to stigma around the cause of death which was linked to cultism, adding that it slowed down the identification process.

“There were people who we could see just from looking that this person was starved to death based on how thin they were...upon autopsy body fats were diminished completely, there are organs which we usually look at and you can tell that this person was starving and we’re just noting them and documenting them for the purpose of helping the court in prosecution,” he said.

Forensic experts warned those who kill and bury bodies to conceal evidence that science will soon catch up with them, even if it takes years.

“Issues of crime investigations is not a laboratory solution, it starts from the crime scene itself and this personnel at the crime scene should be able to identify the evidential material...they should know how to package the evidential material and the issues of storage,” Government Chemist Dr. John Mungai noted.

Dr. Oduor, who was the lead pathologist in the Shakahola massacre, shared some light moments away from work including his love for books, music and travelling.

“When you look at me, do I look (like a disturbed person)? Of course death is not a very good thing and we are all human...I don’t think anyone would be happy when you see people dead; actually, the reason why there are advances in health is so that people live longer when we are in these situations,” he noted.

The scientists cited lack of criminal database in the country as one of the reasons criminal cases delay and some criminals in some cases get away with murder.