Kirinyaga man, 60, commits suicide after his wife, 50, engages in love affair with 22-year-old man

Police car in Kenya.

In Mwea, Kirinyaga County, a man who was 60 years old took his own life after learning that his spouse who is also in mid 50s had allegedly been having an affair with a guy who was 22 years old.

The dead body of the gentleman was discovered dangling from a string that had been secured to a rafter on the roof.

Henry Kariuki, the chief of Kiarukungu, says that the person came to his office to complain about the situation. At the time, he didn't know that the man had a severe mental disorder and would end up killing himself.

Kariuki said on Wednesday that his wife was hit with a panga and then taken to the hospital, where her injuries were checked out and she was sent home.

Kariuki said that a complaint about the incident had been filed at the Wang'uru police station.

Daniel Kitavi, who is in charge of the police in the Mwea East sub-county, said that the person who died was supposed to give a statement about the attack, but he was found dead instead.

"Some of the people who saw him beat his wife have written down what they saw," Kitavi said.

The chief of Kiarukungu said that the guy seemed to be under a lot of pressure due to the fact that his wife was suspected of having an affair with the small boy who had been hawking tomatoes in the community.

"He had claimed that he had chosen to allow the two to conduct themselves as they pleased, so we didn't believe things would end up this way," Kariuki said.

"He was shocked to learn that his spouse was in a committed relationship with a man younger than his children," the sibling of the deceased said.

The villagers were shocked and said the guy should have just let things go and gone on with his life.

Concerns have been raised because the number of suicides in Kirinyaga has been going up.

According to the records kept by the police, 132 people passed away as a result of committing suicide between 2021 and 2022. Among these 132 documented fatalities, 106 were males and 26 were women.