The evidence that convinced a court a deceased man had embraced Islam before his death has now emerged, with the lawyers who defended the case explaining why witness testimony, his daily religious practices and other evidence outweighed his family's claim that he remained a Christian.
Speaking during an interview at Radio Generation on Friday, Advocate Brance Odhiambo said the case placed the court in a difficult position, with the deceased's parents seeking to bury their son while an Imam who had overseen his conversion insisted he should be buried according to Islamic rites.
"There is an Imam who converted the deceased to Islam, and this Imam is going to court saying that I want to bury this person. And on the other hand, you have the father and the mother of the deceased saying, 'Give us our son. We want to bury our son,' Odhiambo said.
When asked whether the family had presented baptism and confirmation certificates to show the deceased was a Christian, Odhiambo said those documents were produced but were not enough to settle the dispute.
"They did, but also they did not come with us," he said.
The case arose from a dispute over the burial of the deceased, who was known as Samuel Charo Kirai before adopting the Muslim name Zakaria.
On July 16, 2026, the Kilifi Magistrate's Court dismissed a suit challenging his Islamic burial after finding that he had voluntarily converted to Islam and actively practised the faith before his death.
The court ruled that the plaintiff failed to prove the deceased lacked the mental capacity to convert to Islam and found that no expert medical evidence had been presented to support that claim.
Instead, the defence presented several witnesses and other evidence showing that the deceased embraced Islam during his lifetime.
Advocate Abdul Nassir told Radio Generation that nine witnesses testified before the court about the deceased's conversion and his life as a practising Muslim.
"From the nine witnesses we assembled in court, remember when you are doing the conversion, you know a mosque is not an isolated place, or even a church. Those are community centers," he said.
Nassir told the court that community elders witnessed the conversion and later appeared in court to confirm what had happened.
"So at the time of conversion, was my client now Bakari Jumaratili was converting this young man, the late Zakaria or Samuel Charo Kirao. There were witnesses there who were community elders, and all those witnesses, all those, by the way, they came to court and testified in favor of Zakaria," he said.
He also pointed to a video aired by a local media station showing the deceased at a mosque reciting the Holy Quran and taking part in Islamic activities.
Nassir said one of the strongest pieces of evidence came from an elderly woman who testified that she regularly gave the deceased food every evening during Ramadan when Muslims broke their fast.
"The major issue was there was a mother who came as a witness, a very old woman, and said that every Ramadan at 6p.m. when they are done, they call to prayer. Now that is the time we are breaking the fast. I used to give Zakaria food. That is primary evidence of someone practicing the faith."
The defence also addressed arguments raised by the family based on Mijikenda customary law.
According to Nassir, court documents showed that the family had already formed a burial committee and even dug a grave for the deceased, arguing that delaying the burial went against Mijikenda customs.
However, he said the court found that the customary law argument had not been properly proved.
"We needed someone from the Mijikenda community, an elder from the Kaya, to come and say it has happened in 1980. What they approved to this. So if you plead customary law without sufficient evidence, the court will not really listen to that," he said.
In its judgment on July 16, 2026, the court found that the evidence presented by the defence showed the deceased had adopted the Muslim name Zakaria, regularly attended the mosque, observed Ramadan, dressed as a Muslim and openly lived as a follower of Islam.
The court dismissed the suit and allowed the defendant to collect the body from Kilifi County Hospital for reburial under Islamic rites after an earlier burial had been stopped by a court order.
The magistrate also directed that the deceased's family is free to attend and participate in the burial ceremony if they wish and informed both parties that they have 30 days to appeal the decision.
In an emotional moment after the judgment, the court was informed that the plaintiff, Stephen Kazungu Charo, had died after battling a terminal illness. The court expressed its condolences to his family.
The ruling brings to an end the lengthy legal battle over the deceased's final resting place, with the court holding that the evidence presented showed he had embraced Islam during his lifetime and should therefore be buried according to Islamic rites at the Takaungu Muslim Cemetery.