• Two women hanged themselves in different incidents last week.
• Neighbour says man lived alone and no one knows what prompted move.
The body of a man was found dangling from a tree outside his home in Marula, Gilgil subcounty, adding to the rising number of suicides in the area.
Members of the public found the body on Wednesday morning and called the police.
This brought to ten the number of people, mainly women, who have committed suicide around the town in the last four months.
Last week, two women hanged themselves in different incidents, with residents blaming poverty and depression.
Resident Amos Kinuthia said the man worked in one of the vegetable farms in the area and was last spotted on Tuesday evening.
“He lived alone and no one really knows what happened but the body was found hanging from a tree on Wednesday morning,” he said.
Meanwhile, an effort to ward off the cold in the country ended on a tragic note after a 70-year-old man was burnt to ashes in Kikopey in Gilgil.
During the Tuesday night incident, nothing was salvaged from the victim’s house as members of the public watched from a distance in horror.
The man, who had been living alone, had sought the warmth of a stove when it accidentally fell and set the house ablaze.
Neighbour Adam Kibe said the man had for weeks complained over the cold before he was advised to seek a jiko or stove.
He said the elderly man had been using the stove to warm his house adding that they suspected this to be the cause of the fire.
“For the last couple of weeks we have recorded very low temperatures and this forced him to seek another source of warmth which has, unfortunately, killed him,” he said.
Gilgil OCPD Emmanuel Opuru confirmed both cases adding that the bodies had been collected and inquest files opened.
“In both cases, the victims lived alone and in the suicide case, the victim did not leave behind a suicide note. We are investigating,” he said.
Edited by R.Wamochie