Body of Matsangoni girl who died in Riyadh was extensively distorted-autopsy

A postmortem conducted on the body of Mercy Mwangala at the Star Hospital mortuary in Malindi has failed to underpin the cause of her death.

Mercy, 26 died on 12 October 2022 in Riyadh, Middle East where she had gone to work since January 2022.

According to the autopsy conducted on 30^th March this year, the cause of death could not be established due to extensive distortion of the body.

“The cause of death cannot be determined because the body has undergone what seems to be a professional examination after death. The body has undergone extensive distortion. Organs have been tampered with. Notably is the body is severely wasted pointing towards possible ill health and starvation,” read the report.

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The report indicated that the body had a satured midline incision from the pubis to the chin.

There was another satured incision on the head with a deformed skull.

“The sternum has been cut into two. Inside the chest cavity found right and left lungs, which had been detached and cut, into multiple slices. The heart has been dissected into two and detached from the rail of the body. The liver has been dissected and cut into slices. Kidneys have been detached and dissected into slices,” read the report

The stomach was missing and the end of the gut where the stomach was attached had been satured.

“Brain tissue was found open. The brain was not in the calva,”

According to the family, Mercy’s eyes were gauged out and tongue removed.

She was buried on Saturday in her Matsangoni home with family members calling for investigations into her death.

“There is nothing that can bring my daughter back to life but if I know what transpired it will give me some solace,” said Maneno Mwangala.

Joseph Wanje, another relative, said her body was mutilated with eyes gouged out and her tongue removed.

“We received the news of her death through other girls who are there. We reached out to both the agent in Kenya and Riyadh. Since January, we have been in communication until we received the body last week and we buried her on Saturday,” Wanje said.

“She died a painful death and there was no one beside her to help her.”

Matsangoni youth leader Sammy Ambari urged the government to come up with laws that would ensure the safety of Kenyan workers in the Gulf region.

He urged the government to guarantee employment for young Kenyans.

“Mercy went to the gulf to get a better life. If she was guaranteed employment in Kenya she wouldn’t have travelled to the Gulf. The Middle East is a death trap to our girls,” he said.

“They leave with the aim of changing their homes, but some come back as cargo. We need policies that will guarantee employment to our people.”