Murang'a: Student sent home for allegedly stealing calculators, dies by suicide

The family of a Form Two student at Mirira Secondary School in Kiharu, Murang'a County is seeking justice after their son committed suicide by self-poisoning a few hours after he was sent home to replace two calculators that he had allegedly stolen within the institution.

The boy's decomposed body was found in a forest near his home a week after he went missing.

Talking to Citizen TV, the deceased's kin said they suspect the boy used tick-control chemicals to end his life in protest of the directive by the school's principal, further terming the punishment meted on him as punitive.

The deceased's sister, Immaculate Wanja, said her brother's tribulations started three weeks ago when a calculator he had borrowed from a Form 3 student went missing while in school.

This led the boy to borrow a calculator from another student and hand it to the Form 3 student to help him sit the end-of-term examination.

"My brother was also sitting the examination and since he did not have a calculator, he borrowed one from another student," said Wanja.

She went on to say that her brother reported the matter to a teacher, who summoned him. Since he was found with a calculator, he was deemed to have stolen it, along with one of the other students.

"He was not given a chance to explain that he had not stolen the calculator; He had borrowed two calculators from students, one for him to use and the other for the Form 3 student," said Wanja.

In a shocking turn of events, the student's body was discovered in a remote area, partially devoured by wild animals. The missing body parts include a hand from the wrist and a leg from the ankle.

Despite extensive searches by family, friends, and community members, only a belt was recovered, at the scene.

Citizen TV visited the bereaved family's home, where funeral preparations were underway.

Family members expressed their deep sorrow and called for a thorough investigation by the Ministry of Education, alleging that the school principal had failed to inform Wanja, whom the deceased lived with, about missing school property.

"My brother sneaked back home unnoticed and took the chemicals before venturing deep into the forest. The only thing that alerted us that he had been home was his school bag,"  Wanja said.

"Our search came to an end after my mother and another woman, assisting in the search, were attracted by a foul stench. They found my brother's body alongside empty bottles of tick-control medicine."

Murang'a East Sub-County Director of Education, Kamau Ruitha, told Citizen TV that ministry officials are probing the incident.