Sh1500 child upkeep demand drives 47-year-old man to suicide

The casual worker identified as Chege was ordered to be paying the money to his estranged second wife. [Courtesy]

A 47-year-old casual worker man who was embroiled in a row with his estranged second wife over a Sh1,500 children upkeep bill has committed suicide in Naivasha.

The father of six is said to have committed suicide by jumping into drum full of water in his house after the Children's department ordered that he be paying Sh1,500 monthly upkeep.

During the incident in Msafiri village in Longonot location, the man took his life to protest the decision by the department of children.

Trouble started after the department of children ordered the man identified only as Chege to be paying the monthly Sh1,500 to his second wife whom they had parted ways.

According to area Chief Stephen Njuguna, the two parted company two years ago following domestic quarrels and had been blessed with one child.

He added that the deceased who was not employed had been stressed for a long time over the demands by the second wife who lived in a nearby village.

“The directive by children department irked him further and could have contributed to his jumping head first into the drum which was full of water,” he said.

A neighbor Jackson Waimeri told how the deceased asked his sons to fill in the drum of water before closing the door and jumping in.

“It seems that all along he had planned for this and its now double tragedy as he has left behind a very young family that relied on his support,” he said.

Meanwhile, the traffic police officer who was hit and killed by a speeding motorist along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway has been identified as Constable Joseph Kwemoi.

This came as police launched a manhunt for the driver of the vehicle that hit the officer who escaped minutes after the fatal accident in Karai Naivasha.

The junior was still celebrating the birth of his twins when the speeding driver who had been flagged down hit and seriously injured him but he died while undergoing treatment.

According to Naivasha OCPD Samuel Waweru, the body of the officer had since been transferred to his rural home in Kitale ahead of the burial.

“We are still in shock over the incident but we are sure that we shall catch up with the missing driver who hit and killed the traffic officer Kwemoi,” he said.