On June 9, 2009, popular Kikuyu musician Queen Jane wedded her longtime sweetheart James Kariuki in a ceremony conducted at the Baptist Church in Ruiru.
The wedding which was attended by hundreds of her fans and colleagues in the music industry was presided over by the popular Pastor JJ Gitahi.
Queen Jane, whose real name was Jane Nyambura Ciira, and Kariuki received a marriage certificate from Pastor JJ and embarked on a journey to live as wife and husband unaware they took home a document not deemed legal.
One year later, on June 29, 2010, the songstress died at a Nairobi hospital while undergoing treatment. This opened a new chapter in Kariuki's life marked by stress, pain and tears.
As he was preparing to bury his wife at her matrimonial home in Makwa village in Gatundu North District, Kariuki received information that preparations were in high gear for Queen Jane's burial at her parents home in Mugoiri, Murang'a County.
He moved swiftly to a Thika court and obtained an order restraining his in-laws from interring his wife's remains at her maternal home.
During the protracted court battle that lasted for over three months, Kariuki, through his lawyer Ngure Mbugua, informed the court that he married Nyambura in June 2001 under Kikuyu customary law and later solemnised the marriage in 2009 under the Christian Marriage Act.
The video of the wedding presided over by Pastor JJ was played before Thika senior resident magistrate Barbara Owino.
However, the musician's younger sister Ejidiah Wanja, popularly known as Lady Wanja, trashed the video clip claiming it was a stage-play whose script was written by Queen Jane.
On September 13, 2010, Judge Owino ruled in favour of the musician's family, noting that Pastor JJ Gitahi, who solemnised their union, 'had no capacity to officiate marriages as he was not legally registered'.
"Under the circumstances, no marriage took place between the deceased and the plaintiff and he can only be called a friend to her. The body belongs to her family and they have the right to inter her remains," she ruled.
The music diva was laid to rest a week later at her parents home in Murang'a County.
Pastor JJ recently shot into the limelight due to his controversial teachings, especially on how women should clean their vaginas to keep their men.
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