A 14-year-old girl has died by suicide in a Naivasha estate, a couple of days after she was allegedly suspended from school on allegations that she had queer relationships with other girls.
The teenager reportedly hanged herself in the family’s house in Kayole estate off the Nairobi-Nakuru highway hours before she was supposed to report back to school.
Last week, the form one student and a group of other girls were suspended from the public school on allegations that they had a love relationship.
The school further directed that the affected students undergo several sessions of mandatory counselling before reporting back to school.
An elder Joseph Mwai from the estate said that the girl did not want to return to the same school due to ridicule and shame attributed to the incident.
He said that the grandmother who was living with the teenager found her hanging next to the house minutes after she woke up.
“The girl and others had been suspended for around a week due to their behaviour and were supposed to return after counselling but the 14-year-old decided to take her life,” he said.
He expressed his concern over an increase in cases of suicide among students in Naivasha terming the trend as worrying.
“Early in the year, a Grade Six pupil in one of the public schools died by suicide after falling out with the parents and something is terribly wrong,” he said.
According to John Kinuthia from the Naivasha GBV cluster group, the town had recorded over 15 cases of suicide since the year began with several students involved.
“We are concerned by the rising number of suicides among the youths and we have launched a campaign where we are encouraging them to speak out,” he said.
In another incident, a cyclist was run over by a bus along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway while his colleague escaped with minor injuries.
The two were heading to Naivasha town from Kayole estate when the bus heading in the same direction hit them from behind.
“In the process, the cyclist crashed on the road with the bus running over him while his colleague was lucky and escaped with minor injuries,” said a witness Amos Mwai.
Naivasha OCPD Stephen Kirui confirmed both cases adding that the bodies had been collected and taken to the local mortuary.