Distress as old man commits suicide for lack of grandchild

By JOSEPH KARIMI

Grandchildren are no doubt a source of joy. History has it that the only time psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud ever cried was when his grandson died. The death of little Heinerle Rudolph resulted in Freud’s first ever depression. Three years after the tragedy, Freud told a confidant that it had been impossible for him to enjoy his life since the loss of the young man.

And in Kenya, a 63-year-old man waited for so long to see his grandchildren that eventually, out of despair, he committed suicide. While undergoing treatment at Consolata Hospital, Mathari, in Nyeri, Godfrey Wabui Thuo said he had attempted to take his life away because his eldest son was approaching 40 and had not married.

The old man confessed that he was unable to overcome the desolation that faced him each day on arriving home, where he would be welcomed by his dogs. He said that he wished to see his grandchildren welcome him home instead.

Thuo, a father of eight, including two girls, was a wealthy man in his locality of Kanyenyaini location of Murang’a District. The old man operated a matatu in Murang’a, owned land in the nearby trading centre and had several other acres where he planted tea, and reared cattle, sheep and goats.

On the night of April 28, 1983, the old man decided to end his life. Thuo gulped a big cup of motor vehicle battery acid, jumped into a coffin that he had bought earlier in preparation for his death, and lay there waiting to die. But death did not come as quickly as he would have wished.

His family detected danger when the old man started groaning in severe pain as the acid burnt through his stomach walls and destroyed his internal organs.

When I called at the late Thuo’s homestead some weeks after the burial, I found four of his sons and a daughter. They declined to discuss the events relating to their father’s death, saying they were not home when the tragedy occurred.

LAST SUPPER

The story was, however, an open secret among the villagers. One woman, Margaret Wangare, who was married to a relative of the deceased, had attended the funeral. She told me the story relating to Thuo’s death, which sounded like fiction. I did not take it until it was corroborated by hospital sources in Murang’a and at Consolata Hospital and police reports. 

Wangare narrated that as Thuo prepared to execute his plan, he had asked his children to slaughter a ram that was to become their “last supper.” His family members dismissed him, saying he was talking under the influence of alcohol. When they refused to slaughter the ram, Thuo drove off to shop for a coffin in preparation for his burial.

He drove back home with the coffin in his matatu. He also bought other items for his funeral ceremony. There was a shroud to wrap his dead body, a spray for his soon to be decomposing body and a gallon of kerosene to light lanterns in his homestead during the mourning period. He also bought some maize flour to feed mourners.

He drove into his compound and, unnoticed, removed the coffin from the vehicle and placed it inside his bedroom, not forgetting the bottle of battery acid.

When all was lined up, the old man hid the car keys to cause a delay in making efforts to drive him to hospital to save his life. It was then that he gulped a large quantity of the acid and without wasting time, jumped into the coffin and lay waiting to die.

STOMACH PAINS

His wife and family members were attracted to the old man’s bedroom when he started groaning with pain. They rushed to the door of his bedroom and knocked, but no answer was forthcoming.

They forced the door open only to find the man lying inside the coffin. They raised the alarm as they made efforts to find the car keys, which were traced after a considerable time.

Thuo was taken to Murang’a District Hospital. According to hospital records, he was admitted there on April 29, under in-patient hospital card No. 5419/83.

The hospital records stated that Thuo had been admitted for drinking the battery acid and that he had been complaining of stomach pain, dehydration and diarrhoea. They put him on a fruit juice diet.

When the reports reached the police, investigations kicked off. They visited the patient to record a statement waiting to charge him with “attempted suicide.”

Police also visited his homestead and carried away the coffin and other items, and kept them in Kangema Police Station until the patient was discharged from hospital.

 One of his sons, John Wamundara, said his father was transferred to Consolata Hospital, Mathari, and admitted on May 27 before being discharged.

“I was committed to die,” Thuo told hospital authorities when asked why he had gone to an extent of drinking acid.

The old man was discharged on June 16 and returned to his Karurumo home. Unfortunately, the acid had damaged his internal organs. Eventually, he succumbed to a slow but agonising 40-day journey to his death, two weeks after his discharge from Consolata Hospital. 

ANOTHER COFFIN

Thuo’s death left his family bewildered by the decision he had made. They decided to not bury him in the coffin he had purchased.

Daughter Wangeci said: “We felt it was not proper for him to be buried in the same coffin he had bought for himself. So we took it back to the merchant who had sold it to him and requested an exchange, but he refused. He even refused to refund the money my father had paid, which was Sh1,500.”

She added: “Disappointed with the merchant, we went to Nairobi and bought another coffin. “

When the funeral arrangements were completed, hundreds of mourners including relatives, family members and well-wishers converged at the late Thuo’s Karurumo homestead on July 6, 1983, to pay their last respects to a man who was well-known and  respected.