- A guard at the compound told police he heard a thud from the back side of the house and on checking he found his employer lying motionless.
- He had fallen from about 40 feet high to the ground.
A 60-year-old Belgian national died by suicide after jumping from the roof of his house in Runda, Nairobi.
The lifeless body of Gilbert Vanhoutte was found on the ground where it had landed in a thud on Wednesday morning, police said.
He lived alone in the maisonette where the incident happened at about 5 am.
A guard at the compound told police he heard a thud from the back side of the house and on checking he found his employer lying motionless.
He had fallen from about 40 feet high to the ground.
It emerged the foreigner had earlier tried to slit his throat but failed.
The deceased owned and ran a manufacturing company on Mombasa Road in Nairobi.
The guard realized the deceased had climbed to the rooftop of his house and jumped down landing on his head and died.
Police officers from Runda police station and DCI Gigiri proceeded to the scene and found his lifeless body lying down. It was established that at the time of the incident, he was alone in the house as his family members were away.
The guard was then at the sentry box and heard the fall.
Police also established that the deceased had attempted to kill himself by cutting himself with a sharp blade which was recovered in his room.
The body was removed to Lee Funeral Home pending autopsy.
The motive of the incident is yet to be known.
Police say cases of suicide are on the rise.
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.
WHO rates suicide as a serious global public health issue that is among the top 20 leading causes of death worldwide.
There is a campaign ongoing to address the menace. End
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.
WHO rates suicide as a serious global public health issue that is among the top 20 leading causes of death worldwide.