Man abandons mother’s corpse in mortuary for years, battles over father’s property

The corpse of woman has allegedly been abandoned for four years and three months in a mortuary in Anambra state.

It was gathered that woman’s son had insisted that she would not be buried until issues bordering on the ownership and sharing of their late father’s property were settled.

The incident reportedly happened in Awka-Etiti in the Idemili South Local Government Area of the State.

According to the woman’s daughter, simply identified as Mrs. Okonkwo, their mother died in January 2020 and was deposited in a mortuary the same time and she had been there since that year till date.

She attributed the delay of their mother’s burial to the obstinacy of her brother, one Mr. Isaac, whom, she accused of insisting that their mother’s corpse would not be buried until issues pertaining to their late father’s property were resolved.

Noting that their late father had two houses in Aba, Abia State, the deceased’s daughter, who is married out, said she had made several efforts and even visited the elder brother in Aba where he lives so as to settle the issue of their mother’s burial to no avail.

She said their late father’s property and their documents were in court in Umuahia, Abia State capital, while their elder brother insisted that there must be settlement about the property, or else their mother would not be buried.

She also said the brother had been repeatedly invited by the court for the settlement of the property, but he never showed up but kept on insisting that the deceased would not be buried until the issues about the family property would besettled.

Reacting to the development, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Ify Obinabo frowned at the act.

She assured of her Ministry’s intervention on the matter, even as she pledged to reach out to the late woman’s son to ensure that the right thing would be done.