Police in Kyuso, Kitui county, are trying to unravel the mystery of a 13-year-old Standard 7 girl who hanged herself on Monday.
Kyuso subcounty police commander Charles Machinji said it was uncommon for such a child that young to take her own life. He said investigations were underway to establish why she committed suicide.
The girl's body was found dangling from the roof of the family house at Kyandani village in Kamuwongo location at 11am on Monday. It was discovered by the deceased’s siblings who alerted the parents.
“By the time the girl hanged herself, she was on alone at home as her sisters had gone to draw water from a nearby well. The parents were in the shamba a short distance away,” Machinji said.
The parents said the child had not been provoked in any way and her suicide came as a big shock.
But Kamuwongo chief Jane Mwende said she had learned that the girl had been scolded by her parents on the eve of the suicide.
The chief said the girl on Sunday disappeared from home and stayed away until late. When she returned she was reprimanded by her parents.
“The reports we are getting are that the girl left her home on Sunday morning. She is said to have left on the motorbike of a livestock dealer who had visited Kyandani village to buy livestock. Her parents were not amused because they did not know her whereabouts only for her to show up in the night,” Mwende said.
The chief said the livestock dealer should explain where and why he took the schoolgirl. “It should also be established whether the man was with the girl until the time she returned home in the night,” Mwende said.
The chief said the law prohibits adults from having relations with schoolchildren. “We want to established if the man who carried the girl on the motorbike had sinister motives for the law to take its course,” the chief added.
Edited by Henry Makori
