A man interrupted his niece's funeral at Gakwegori in Embu West yesterday claiming she was being buried on his land.

Mourners were preparing to lower the body of Lucy Wanderi into the grave when Muriuki Wandai arrived with a court order to stop the burial arguing that the land is in the centre of a dispute.

ACK Kanagaru Church Minister Davis Njiru who presided over the ceremony said the order was genuine and stopped the ceremony. He told the mourners the only alternative left was to return the body to the morgue until the land case is determined.

However, Wanderi's family members felt it would be quite costly to make new arrangements for another funeral. One of her cousins offered to have Wanderi buried at his farm one kilometre away from the disputed land saying she did not deserve such humiliation at her death.

The mourners carried the body to his farm where they proceeded with the burial.They demanded that the first grave not be filled until elders carry out a ritual to cleanse it as a curse may befall the village.