Shan Wanita: A dead Instagram model, a grieving mother, and unending family feud over her controversial burial

Kamulu estate, Kasarani constituency. On the one acre piece of land fenced by kai apple and an ever locked black gate sits an expansive house. The compound is quiet and the house is engulfed in loneliness, you would assume it’s abandoned.

At the facade lies two graves; one old, another fresh with dried wreaths. Both have newly done concrete slabs on top of them, bearing the names of those who have gone ahead to the world yonder: Onesmus Omwenga Maroko and Esther Shanice Nyakerario.

Esther Shanice Nyakerario. Quite an unfamiliar name, but, this is the official name of popular Instagram model, Shan Wanita, who tragically perished in a road accident on Sunday, September 17, 2023, together with two others, while they were on a road trip to Mombasa.

The Toyota Prado they were cruising in rolled in Sultan Hamud, killing Shan on the spot, while the driver, Kevin, and his daughter, died while receiving treatment in hospital. Shan’s body was moved to the Umash funeral home.

Inside this seemingly abandoned house, Shan’s mum, Mary Mose, sits quietly together with her daughter and son. Outside, a farmhand is busy tending to the farm. Mary is in deep thoughts, her daughter cannot speak having lost her sister tragically.

Aside from losing her eldest daughter, and her husband two years earlier to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mary is battling unending family feuds and fall out, especially after Shan’s death. As widely reported, she was not there when Shan was buried, and she has consistently maintained that her extended family sidelined her and denied her the chance to bury her daughter.

In an exclusive interview with Citizen Digital, Mary opens up on the controversy surrounding Shan’s death, burial and the events that followed.

“I conceived Shan when I was in Form Two. Then, I was only 16 years old. I was young and naive but I dropped out of school to raise my baby. We were extremely close with Shan and many people used to think we are sisters because of the way we related in public and even on social media,” Mary opened up.

The old grave bearing the name Onesmus Omwenga Maroko is that of her husband, who succumbed to Covid-19 complications two years ago. The memories of the loss of her husband are fresh in her mind. He was the sole breadwinner of the family, and he loved his children dearly.

But upon his death, followed by that of her father-in-law early this year, Mary says she has known no peace, thanks to family members who have turned against her and are now controlling everything in her life, including how she should raise her kids.

“When my husband died, these same people took over everything including burial, sidelining me completely. Even the burial permit was written in their name as if I didn’t exist. They controlled everything from preservation of the body to the burial itself. I only got the burial permit after pushing really hard, and it didn’t have my name on it,” Mary said, showing us the permit bearing the name of one of distant relative.

Fast forward to September when her daughter Shan tragically passed away. On the fateful day, Mary had travelled to Kisii for business. She remembers the last call she had with her daughter hours before she died. It was Sunday evening, Shan called and informed her they had decided to travel down the Coast for some road trip and vacation. As a good mother, she asked her to make sure the other siblings had everything they needed. Shan asked for power tokens, mum sent, and wished for her safe travels. That was the last conversation they had. Little did she know her daughter would die hours later.

The following morning she was woken up by numerous calls from a new number, and was informed that her daughter had perished in a road accident. Hit by immense shock and grief, Mary didn’t have the courage to immediately travel from Kisii to Sultan Hamud. Incidentally, it had to be the same relatives who went down to Makueni and picked Shan’s body. Just like her father, the said relative said he was the grandfather to Shan, and denied that Shan had parents. And that is where the ordeal began, yet again.

“When I came back to Nairobi and wanted to see my daughter and confirm she was indeed dead, Umash couldn’t allow me because I was a stranger to them. My relatives refused to give the documents and confirm to the morgue that I was the mother to Shan. That is how I ended up camping at Umash when they released the body to my relatives,” Mary added, alluding to the incident where she was pictured at the funeral home demanding for her daughter’s body.

Mary says all through the burial arrangements, she was sidelined as her relatives took over everything including the house and compound. Unfortunately, she never got to see Shan’s remains. The relatives took the body from Umash and buried it in Kamulu as Mary spent the day at a friend’s house.

She claimed that her other kids who attended their sisters’ burial were harassed and even assaulted by some of the relatives as they demanded that their mother be present.

“During the burial they dug two graves just near my husband’s grave. They then buried Shan to the far one and filled up this other grave with soil. In our culture that is taboo. You cannot dig up a grave and just fill it up without conducting certain rituals. I don’t know what their motive was,” Mary said while standing on the spot where the other grave was allegedly dug.

Two days after Shan’s burial and everyone had left, Mary organised a second funeral service for her daughter, inviting her close friends and fans, and a popular local choir to sing and lay a wreath on Shan’s grave. It is this wreath that is drying up amid the El Nino rains.

“As we speak I don’t know whether indeed it was my daughter who was buried here or someone else. I never saw my daughter dead, because my relatives didn’t want me to. They are keen on pushing me out, yet everything my husband left behind I’m the next of kin,” she further said.

In the sitting room, Mary has littered the walls with large frames carrying photos of Shan, her husband and father-in-law. The three are all gone and were her biggest pillars.

The father-in-law was buried in the US where he lived and worked, and it was his wish that he be buried there.

Mary has moved to court seeking justice for her daughter. Initially, she wanted the court to order an exhumation of Shan’s body for a befitting send off, but she feels that would be disturbing her daughter. She now wants the court to compel the family members to surrender all documents regarding Shan’s death and have them changed to bear her name.

Shan was set to relocate to the US and was in the process of processing her Visa application when death struck.

“I loved my daughter dearly. They say I was not a good mum, but my daughter was 21 years old and we knew the relationship we had. People have cultures that are outdated and when they see you do things differently, they think you have failed as a parent,” she said.

The slab on Shan’s grave has made it slightly sink. Rose says her daughter was not given the burial she deserved.

“Shan was a queen, she deserved to be buried like one. But they were in a hurry to bury her, the reason even the grave is sinking. I don’t know why they did this but as a parent I needed to be fully involved and have my daughter sent off properly.”

The grief is palpable. The void is huge. The emptiness is evident. The rage is burning. Yet, it is the hope that keeps Mary and her kids going.