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Woman Commits Suicide 46 Days After Her Son Died At A Road Construction Crush

SK 2 years ago 2 min read

A mother in Kinangop killed herself after locking herself in her room with a charcoal stove forty six days after the death of her 6-year-old son.

On Monday morning, when her sister went to wake her up, Cecy Gaitho was found dead in her room.

Martin died on June 5, and Cecy is believed to have struggled mightily to find a way to cope with her loss. In Kidfarmaco, Kikuyu, he was crushed by a concrete culvert pipe during a road building project.

According to reports, she spent the majority of her time in denial and kept repeating that she had no purpose to live after losing her kid and couldn’t withstand going through the legal system to seek redress.

“I felt so helpless. We are trying to follow up with the construction company for negligence but they are not even cooperative. To imagine I have to go through court processes for his justice is too traumatizing. I am somewhere between feeling empty, helpless and lost. I keep hoping my baby will come back,” she wrote on her Facebook on July 14.
Cecy’s close friends claimed they frequently dropped by her house; the most recent was on Saturday, when they allegedly spent the entire day together before departing for Nairobi in the late afternoon.

One of them made the decision to stay behind with Cecy but left on Sunday night, leaving her all by herself.

“We tried taking her out to prevent her being alone. We visited her as frequently as we could. One of us literally stayed with her at her home since the baby died, until last Sunday evening. They were sharing a room and a bed and Cecy only took her life after the lady left,” one of the deceased’s confidants told the Nation.

“Cecy was fine, she even prepared some food for her parents, At 11:38pm, she posted some photos on her Whatsapp status and we made fun of life. She did it between midnight and morning.”

Veronica Kinuthia, a counseling psychologist and the executive director of the Kenya Counselling and Psychological Association, said that Cecy’s grief was only intensifying and that cases like hers are typically seen among single parents who have lost children.

“The boy was everything to her and his demise crushed her. She must have wondered why she should live if what she had lived for had gone. That is what most single parents go through when they lose their child,” said Veronica.

“There is also societal labelling and feelings of guilt that she could have done something to save her child. Blame game, denial and not letting go could have added to her grief,” she said.

Cecy will be buried on Friday, July 29 at her home in Kinangop