Shock as minor commits suicide

Residents of a village in Gilgil constituency are in shock after a 13-year-old boy committed suicide in unclear circumstances.

The lifeless body of the minor was found by his friends hanging from a tree in Kigogo village 20kms from Gilgil town.

Police collected the body from the scene to determine the cause of death.

According to the boy’s friend, Enock Wachira, the teenager had dropped from school a couple of years ago and was involved in various manual works around the village.

"The previous day he had been involved in a game of volleyball and was in good spirits until today morning when he decided to commit suicide," said Wachira.

Confirming the incident, area assistant chief Leah Matheri said that they were yet to establish the motive behind the move by the boy to commit suicide.

The government official added that the body had since been collected and taken to Gilgil sub-county hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem.

"Police have opened an inquest file following the death which has left many people shaken as the minor was well known in this village," she said.

Elsewhere

Meanwhile, a middle-aged man was hit and killed by a speeding motorist along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway on Monday morning.

The man said to be a casual labourer died on the spot while two occupants in the motor vehicle escaped with slight injuries during the accident near Karai trading centre in Naivasha.

The death brought to five the number of pedestrians who have been hit and killed by motorists on the section of the road in the last month.

A witness Samson Mathu said that the man was crossing the busy road when the car which was heading towards Naivasha from Nairobi hit him.

"The man was rushing to pick a matatu on the other side of the road when the speeding car hit and killed him on the spot," he said.

He decried the rising number of accidents involving pedestrians on the highway adding that this would be resolved by erecting more speed bumps.