A family in Shisese village, Kakamega County is in agony after their 20- year-old kin committed suicide.
Gabriel Shivachi a form three student reportedly hang himself inside his bedroom soon after writing to the Kenya National Examinations Council with a request to defer his KCSE.
Residents have raised fear following the incident given that the number of suicide cases has been on the rise with the internet being blamed for the increase.
According to the deceased's grandmother Sebenzia Shivachi, her 20-year-old grandson Gabriel Shivachi left them in the sitting room and proceeded to his room to sleep and she was shocked to find his body dangling from the rooftop of the house.
“(I) Have been living with him and was to do his KCSE exam but he opted to write to the exam council KNEC deferring his exam to the next session and he was mostly seen browsing on his smartphone,” stated the grandmother.
She added that the boy was calm and never shared his woes with anybody as he was a partial orphan.
One neighbour who was last seen with the late Shivachi added that they were sitting with him in the shopping centre and he was eating chapati. Shivachi didn't confide in him about any issues that might have been troubling him.
Social media has also been blamed for the increase in suicide cases with locals claiming the advent of cheap smartphones has created a huge social problem in the area.
“Most of our children are on freelance mode with the advent of social media being a source of the increase in cases of suicide. Recently I found my grandson googling on how to get out of this world,” added one elder from the area.
This comes even as locals complain of incidents of orphans taking their lives in the area as a result of depression.
