Residents of Githurai estate in Nairobi are still reeling from shock after a man attempted to kill himself because his wife denied him, wait for it, unprotected sex! Yes, he tried to take his own life because his better half insisted he sheaths up before raiding her cookie jar.
The middle-aged man, only identified as Odhiambo, is said to have parachuted himself from the second floor of a residential apartment, all in an attempt to end his (miserable?) life when his wife demanded that he sheaths up or forget his conjugal rights.
The off-the-wall incident left the man hospitalised with broken limbs and his four-year marriage on the rocks. Odhiambo, a casual worker at a bread factory in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, is still admitted at a city hospital where well-wishers rushed him unconscious.
Heated quarrel
His attempted suicide followed a heated quarrel with his unidentified wife after she told him off when he insisted on having his way with her without protection. This, according to the woman, was based on suspicion that the man had been sleeping around and could be carrying a deadly sexually transmitted disease.
“I could no longer trust him when he began spending nights out without good reason,” said his wife. Apparently, it’s close to a month since the couple had unprotected sex. Reportedly, the man had increasingly become uncomfortable using protection, claiming that it was cumbersome and compromised the quality.
“Those things take the shine off intimacy,” he is said to have complained to his wife.
Said the woman, “I insisted that we use condoms, but he took this as an insult and said he would never wear one in his marital bed.”
“Me, sheath up daily for a woman whom I paid dowry for? Over my dead body,” Odhiambo reportedly scoffed. He then turned the heat on his wife, accusing her of being untrustworthy and unfaithful.
Mouthy neighbour
He claimed to have been spending nights in the factory whenever they were forced to work late. He turned tables on her and accused her of having an affair with other men and that was why she was afraid of infecting him with a disease she could have picked during one of her escapades.
Their quarrel climaxed this particular evening when Odhiambo complained of going for over two weeks without making love to his wife. The quarrel degenerated into a fight, which apparently infuriated him to the point of jumping from the building.
His wife erupted into terrified screams, which alerted neighbours who rushed to the man’s rescue. After narrating what had transpired, some of the neighbours who rushed to the scene had no kind words for Odhiambo. “If he really wanted to die, he should have jumped from the fifth floor,” an irritated woman in the crowd taunted.
“These are the kind of men who sleep around and bring their wives diseases. Why was he insisting on doing it without a condom, yet he had been with other random women?” she added, as others unsuccessfully suppressed giggles.
The mouthy neighbour was, however, brought to heel by men who yelled at her, asking her to be careful with what she says during emergencies such as suicide attempts. Odhiambo was rushed to hospital where he is recuperating.
