A woman in Kenya has lost a court battle to bury her son on land belonging to a man she claimed to have married under Luo customary law. The Environment and Land Court in Siaya dismissed Jackline Opiyo's appeal against a decision barring her from burying her son on property registered in the name of her late alleged husband, Kepha Jangolo.
According to Ms Opiyo, she began living with Mr Jangolo in Usenge, Siaya County, in 2003 and established a home on his land the following year. She claimed that Mr Jangolo paid her bride price in early 2014 while battling cancer, before he died in November that year, leaving her and her children on the property. However, her account of the alleged customary marriage was undermined by conflicting testimony about the bride price exchanged.
The inconsistencies in Ms Opiyo's testimony concerned fundamental aspects of the alleged marriage rather than minor differences in recollection. In one account, Ms Opiyo said the bride price comprised one cow, while in another she stated that Mr Jangolo had paid one cow and two goats. She also gave conflicting accounts of whether her biological parents or members of her clan had received the bride wealth.
The court considered testimony from four witnesses who supported the account that Ms Opiyo had been allowed onto the land as a caretaker in 2014, rather than as a wife. Eunice Omollo Jangolo, the administrator of her late husband's estate, had sued Ms Opiyo, accusing her of occupying the property, erecting structures and preparing to bury her son there without consent.
The court found that the arrangement amounted to a licence, which was subsequently revoked during succession proceedings. Ms Opiyo's continued occupation of the property therefore amounted to trespass. Justice Addraya Dena clarified that Ms Opiyo had not lost her case simply because the alleged marriage had not been registered.
The judge also rejected Ms Opiyo's claim that Mr Jangolo was the father of her deceased son, relying on her testimony during the original trial. Ms Opiyo had told the court that she had five children and did not sire any child with Kephas. The judge consequently upheld the order barring the burial on the disputed property.
In a judgment delivered on October 26, 2026, the court dismissed the appeal and upheld the orders barring the burial, directing Ms Opiyo to vacate the land and requiring her to remove the structures she had erected there. The court also dismissed Ms Opiyo's claim that she was entitled to an order compelling Ms Omollo to pay the mortuary expenses incurred while the burial dispute was before the courts.
Key points
- The Environment and Land Court in Siaya dismissed Jackline Opiyo's appeal against a decision barring her from burying her son on property registered in the name of her late alleged husband, Kepha Jangolo.
- The court found that Ms Opiyo's account of the alleged customary marriage was undermined by conflicting testimony about the bride price exchanged, the people who received it and when the couple established their home.
- The judge upheld the order barring the burial on the disputed property, directing Ms Opiyo to vacate the land and requiring her to remove the structures she had erected there.
