A family dispute ended in tragedy in Githunguri, Kiambu County, after a 26-year-old man allegedly killed his wife and young son before taking his own life.
According to police the incident was discovered at around 6:00 a.m. when a relative left her house to fetch water and noticed the body of her brother-in-law, identified as Kennedy Kamau Kabaiku, hanging from an avocado tree with a sisal rope around his neck.
The woman raised an alarm and proceeded to check inside the deceased’s house, where she found the bodies of his wife, Susan Wanjiru Wambui, 26, and their two-and-a-half-year-old son, lying in pools of blood.
Police said a blood-stained panga, believed to have been used in the attack, was recovered beside the bed where the victims were found.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the mother and child suffered fatal cuts to the neck.
Police officers responded to the scene, which was later processed and documented by crime scene investigators from Kiambu.
Investigators also recovered what is believed to be a suicide note posted on the deceased’s social media status, in which he reportedly blamed his father for alcoholism.
The bodies were moved to Mukoe Funeral Home pending post-mortem examinations as detectives continue with investigations to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
The incident has shocked residents of the area, with police treating the matter as a suspected murder-suicide.
Suicide incidents have been on the rise amid efforts to address them.
The World Health Organisation says such cases are attributed to joblessness, death, academic failures or pressures, legal difficulties and financial difficulties. Other reasons are bullying, previous suicide attempts, history of suicide in a family, alcoholism and substance misuse, depression and bipolar disorder.
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