NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 29 – Christmas Festivities should be a time for people to celebrate and make merry with friends and family.
But this was not the case for two families in Meru County.
In one incident, a 38-year-old man committed suicide at Marathi location in Imenti Central District reportedly after his mother denied him food.
Imenti Central police chief Sylvester Githungo said James Mutuma arrived home drunk and demanded for food from his mother.
The mother declined to give him food, and instead advised him to get married so that his wife can be cooking for him.
Githungo said the deceased consumed a pesticide immediately after picking a quarrel with his mother.
He said it was not the first time the deceased had disagreed with his mother over food amid frustrations of his mother’s efforts to get her son to marry.
“The mother reported the incident to the police after she found the body of her son in the house the following morning,” the police said.
The body was taken to the Meru Level-5 hospital mortuary for a post-mortem and an inquest launched.
In another incident in Imenti South District, a drinking spree turned tragic in Ndumene village, after a 30-year-old man slashed his father to death after a quarrel.
The area police chief John Cheruiyot said the two had spent most of Boxing Day drinking before the son murdered his 60 year old father.
“The son stabbed his father with a knife several times before hitting him on the head with an iron bar killing him on the spot,” said the officer.
He said the suspect, who remains at large, escaped immediately after committing the crime.
“The suspect managed to escape the wrath of villagers and his fellow drunkards who bayed for his blood after committing the crime,” said Cheruiyot.
Meanwhile, police in the area accompanied by the District Commissioner Dominic Kyeiza raided a famous brewing den and impounded 2,000 litres of illicit brew.
The DC said the crackdown was meant to curb crimes during the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Kyeiza was concerned that most youths and old men have been spending nights consuming alcohol, a behaviour that has resulted to family conflicts.
“When we arrived at the homestead of a famous brewer, we found people lying on the ground drunk, while others were on the roadside. It was a terrible scene, although the brewer escaped arrest,” Kyeiza said.
