Rosemary Chemutai Kimwatu was buried yesterday despite a court order obtained by her husband, Kevin Migwe Kimwatu, in a dispute that had divided the family over her final resting place.
The case has raised questions about Kevin’s last-minute attempt to stop the burial and, more importantly, whether the orders he obtained were ever properly served on the family before Rosemary was laid to rest.
Rosemary, also known as Rosemary Koech, died on August 21, 2026, aged 40. She worked as Head of Data Protection in the Risk Division at KCB Bank Kenya Limited.
Her body was taken to Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi as her relatives began making arrangements for her funeral.
The disagreement started when Kevin opposed plans by Rosemary’s parents and sister to bury her at the family home in Chepseon, Kericho County, on August 29.
He instead wanted her buried at their home in Matasia, Ngong, in Kajiado County.
Kevin told the court that he married Rosemary in 2013 at St Austin’s Catholic Church in Nairobi and that they had four children.
He also disclosed that they had been living apart for about four months before her death, although he claimed they had agreed to reconcile.
He later went to court, saying he had been excluded from the funeral arrangements. The move came after KCB, in a letter dated August 25, identified Rosemary’s sister, Judy Koech-Oyamo, and her son, Charles Migwe Kimwatu, as the next of kin recorded in the bank’s records.
The bank authorised them to handle the release of Rosemary’s body and burial arrangements.
Feeling sidelined, Kevin filed his case at the Milimani Commercial Magistrate’s Court on August 26, seeking to stop the burial and have a say in his wife’s final rites.
On August 28, Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi issued temporary orders stopping the removal of Rosemary’s body from the funeral home and barring her burial without Kevin’s consent.
The court also directed that the orders and application be served on the respondents.But there was a problem.
By the time the orders were obtained, the family’s burial plans were already advanced, with Rosemary scheduled to be buried on August 29.
Reports later indicated that her body was released from the funeral home and the burial went ahead.
This has left a major question hanging over Kevin’s court action: were the people he wanted stopped from burying Rosemary actually served with the orders before the burial?
Kevin managed to obtain the orders, but obtaining an order and properly serving it are not necessarily the same thing.
The issue could now become central when the case comes up for further directions on August 31.For Rosemary’s family, however, the legal battle came too late to stop her final journey.
She has been buried, while the dispute over who had the right to make the funeral decisions continues in court.
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