Man dies by suicide after mother denies him money to buy bhang

A man in Kirinyaga died by suicide after his mother denied him money to buy bhang.

Speaking on Wednesday, the area police boss Wilson Koskei said the man was drunk when he asked for the money.

He said that the case marks the fourth recent case of people dying by suicide in the area.

"The man asked his mother for money to buy bhang but his mother refused to give him. The man appeared drunk and weak," the police said.

"He was angry after being denied money and people thought he went to sleep but he took a rope and hanged himself."

He said that there has been an increase in suicide cases by young men in the area.

Residents have decried the increase in drug use by young people in the area. They attributed the surge in suicide to family feuds.

Recently, an 11-year-old boy allegedly died by suicide in Kirinyaga.

It is alleged that the Grade 4 pupil at Kibirigwi Primary School took away his life by hanging himself using a rope inside their house.

The minor’s grandmother narrated that the boy’s behaviour prior to his death was unsuspicious and as such he could not know his intention.

She said she noticed the boy digging a deep hole within their home compound and upon confronting him he told her that he wanted to plant a banana stem.

“I had just got from the farm and saw him digging a deep hole beside our house. I sought to know why he was doing it. He told me he wanted to plant a banana stem," she said.

"I cautioned him to stop and cover it because it would be dangerous to have a banana plant near an electricity cable. At first, he seemed reluctant but later he covered the hole with soil."

The grandmother further narrated that later, she recovered some well-cut-out sticks at the scene that aroused more suspicions as to whether his grandson was contemplating digging his own grave.

“At the scene where he was digging, I later recovered some sticks that are used while measuring the length size of a human grave. This totally shocked me,” she said.