The police officer who died by suicide after allegedly killing three children in Homa Bay County, left a suicide note in which he vowed to deal with a church elder whom he accused of having a sexual relationship with his wife.
In the note, David Okebe stated that he had taken his own life due to the tribulations he had endured in his marriage following the discovery of his wife's extramarital affair with the church elder.
Okebe, in the note, instructed his relatives never to interfere with the church elder, promising to address the matter himself through the spirits of the dead. "No one should disturb the elder. I will deal with him myself for tearing my family apart," he wrote.
In his final moments, Okebe sarcastically allowed the church elder to marry his estranged wife.
"I grant the church elder permission to marry my wife, live in peace, and pay her family the proper bride price to settle their marriage," he wrote.
Okebe, a constable at Marsabit Police Station, tragically ended his life on February 6 at his home in Kagoga village, Rachuonyo West Sub-county.
Before his death, it's believed he killed his six-year-old son, five-year-old daughter, and his five-year-old brother-in-law, with suspicion that the children were poisoned, as foam was found at their mouths.
Okebe's strained relationship with his wife extended to his in-laws, to the point where he once considered burning down their house.
"I thought about wiping out your family, bringing fuel to set you all ablaze while you slept. But I decided against it, not wanting you to feel the pain your daughter put me through. Instead, I took your son so your bloodline wouldn't live on to support the wrongs your family inflicted on me," he wrote.
He accused his in-laws of ignoring him whenever he sought their intervention to resolve his conflicts with his wife.
"Whenever we disagreed, whatever your daughter said was final. This time, she was cheating on me with the church elder, but you did nothing," Okebe wrote.
He also claimed that his mother-in-law played a role in the destruction of his marriage.
"My mother-in-law never liked me from the beginning. Whenever I complained, she would tell her daughter to leave my home immediately and even send a boda boda rider to pick her up with my children," Okebe wrote.
In the note, Okebe also accused his immediate boss of treating him unfairly whenever he wanted to travel home and even stated his intention to kill him as well.
Okebe directed that he and his two children be buried in the same grave without coffins, insisting that they be wrapped in blankets or clothes, in the traditional burial manner. "No coffin, just wrap us with blankets," he wrote, further instructing that his property be equally divided between his brothers, Dady and Toy.
Homa Bay County Police Commander Lawrence Koilem urged parents to intervene when their children are experiencing marital difficulties.
"It seems this officer had long-standing issues in his marriage, but the parents who were supposed to intervene did not do so. We would not have had these deaths if the issues had been addressed in time," Koilem said.
A family member, who spoke anonymously, did not dispute the claims raised by Okebe in the suicide note. "It is true that he had issues with his wife and was very bitter with his in-laws. His bitterness led to the murder of a child in that family," the relative said.
