This archive report was first published on 13 July 2021.
On July 13, 2021, a devastating incident shook the quiet village of Musembe in Kakamega, leaving a community in shock and grief. A 15-year-old class eight leaver, whose identity has not been disclosed, took her own life in a tragic turn of events.
According to Adelaide Amakhugu, the mother of the deceased, the incident began when she asked her daughter to help with cleaning the compound. However, the teenager refused, sparking a heated argument between the two.
Amakhugu recounted the events leading up to the tragedy, stating, "I was picking dirt from the compound, but when I asked her to help with the cleaning, she threw tantrums saying that I was foolish like her father, something that made me angry."
As the argument escalated, Amakhugu picked up a stick and punished her daughter, who then ran to the house and locked herself inside. It was there that she drank an insecticide used on livestock, which she claimed she only licked a small portion of due to its bitterness.
Despite attempts to induce vomiting with milk, the teenager's condition rapidly deteriorated, and she began convulsing. Amakhugu and her relatives rushed her to Kakamega General Hospital, but unfortunately, she was pronounced dead upon arrival.
