A mother of seven children allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a dam in Igembe sub-county in Meru County.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon at Ndumulu village. The deceased has been identified Joanina.
The body of the woman was recovered by the police.
Area residents said that Joanina relied on her wages after doing manual labor jobs such as fetching water and washing clothes.
Residents who had interacted with her said when her ex-husband chased her away, she went and rented a room. The husband is said to be a bhang and alcohol addict and never bothers to provide for his children or pay their school fees.
“According to reports, the deceased complained of headache pains before drowning herself. We don’t know why she chose to commit suicide. I’m requesting that the government look after her seven children because the area is prone to wild animals, and they’re in danger of being attacked,” an eyewitness said.
An eyewitness said that he was called around noon to help pull the deceased from the water and wasn’t not sure on what could have led the mother of 7 to commit suicide.
Another eyewitness said that the deceased’s five-year-old child was recently sent home from school due to a lack of school fees, adding to her many difficulties.
“I implore well-wishers to look after the children because they have been abandoned. She might have drowned as a result of the difficulties she was facing. I condemn the deceased for taking her own life because she would have sought assistance from neighbors,” she said.
A resident said that he did not agree with residents’ calls for the dam to be closed because animals and people relied on it. He called for alternative measures, such as erecting a fence around the dam, to be taken by the government.
