A Milimani court has closed a dispute over the burial of KCB Head of Data Protection Rosemary Chemutai Koech Kimwatu after her husband withdrew the cases following confirmation that she had already been buried.
Kelvin Migwe Kimwatu had moved to court seeking to stop the removal and burial of his late wife’s remains, accusing her family and her former employer, KCB Bank Kenya Limited, of excluding him from the funeral arrangements.
The court had initially issued interim orders restraining the respondents from removing Rosemary’s body from Lee Funeral Home and from burying her without her husband’s involvement and consent.
However, the dispute took a different turn after Kimwatu confirmed to the court that the burial had taken place at night.
He subsequently withdrew his application and chose not to seek the exhumation of his wife’s remains or pursue contempt proceedings against her relatives or KCB.
“The applicant withdrew the application, and we had no objection to the application and the entire suit being withdrawn,” lawyer Felix Keaton, representing Rosemary’s parents, told the court.
“We take the view that that was a wise decision; we also wish to convey to you that they (parents) welcome the son-in-law together with the children or any other family member to visit the graveside of the deceased or even visit the family at any particular time,” he added.
Kimwatu told the court that he would leave what had happened to God, bringing the legal battle over the funeral arrangements to an end.
The settlement also allowed Kimwatu and the couple’s four children to visit Rosemary’s graveside at any time, following an agreement with her parents.
The dispute had attracted attention after Kimwatu challenged plans by Rosemary’s family to proceed with her burial without his involvement.
Her family had defended the decision to conduct a night burial, saying it was guided by Kalenjin cultural traditions.
Rosemary, 40, was found dead at her residence in the Ole Nairi area of Ngong on August 21, 2026.
An autopsy conducted by Chief Government Pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor at Lee Funeral Home established that she died by suicide.
Rosemary had worked in the legal, technology, public policy and data protection sectors before joining KCB in June 2022 as Data Protection Officer.
She was promoted to Head of Data Protection in June 2023, taking responsibility for the bank’s group-wide data protection compliance.