Probe alleged suicide cases with seriousness

Jeff Mwathi a 23-year-old budding interior designer reportedly jumped to his death from the 10th floor of a building.

A number of deaths have raised eyebrows in Kasarani, Nairobi. The deaths have been reported as suicide but relatives of the deceased think otherwise.

The first case involved Brenda Kawira Gitonga, who is said to have jumped from the fourth floor of a rental apartment on February 22 after allegedly quarrelling with her boyfriend. Her relatives are unhappy with the police decision to declare her death suicide without proper investigations.

Then on February 22, Jeff Mwathi a 23-year-old budding interior designer reportedly jumped to his death from the 10th floor of a building. His death was reported as suicide Kasarani Police Station and his family proceeded to bury him. However, the circumstances surrounding his death raised a lot of questions.

This compelled Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to order the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to take over the case. The DCI's preliminary investigations ruled out suicide and suggested that Mwathi was killed and then his body either thrown down from the staircase or roof top to make it appear like a case of suicide.

In yet another case, 23-year-old student Blair Muthomi died after falling off a storey building the same area. Why are people plunging to death from storey houses only in Kasarani? These cases should be investigated with seriousness. It is wrong for police to merely dismiss such cases as suicide without investigations as in the case of Mwathi.

The same casual attitude was witnessed after the death of Pastor Elizabeth Wanjiru, still in Kasarani, recently when a male musician was forced to drive with her body to several police stations, but the officers declined to take the body. Where did they want him to report the case or to take the body?

No wonder Nominated Senator Karen Nyamu and some Kasarani residents have no faith in the police officers. Such attitude should not be tolerated. The families of the deceased deserve better. Detectives should get to the bottom of the alleged suicide cases to clear any suspicion and establish whether some of their colleagues stood in the way of justice.