Police are investigating a tragic incident where a woman allegedly killed her two young children, and stabbed her husband three times before attempting to die by suicide in Ongata Rongai.
The woman who is admitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), in critical condition is accused of stabbing her husband after an argument in their house along Maasai Lodge Road.
The argument between the couple turned tragic after the woman allegedly stabbed the man of the house three times, on the head and neck, after he arrived home past 1 am on Thursday, police said.
The man escaped death narrowly after he ran and left the house bleeding and sought help from neighbours who rushed him to a nearby health facility, officials said.
According to police, the mother of two, who remained behind, is said to have locked the doors before killing her two children aged six and two by stabbing them.
Police say she turned the knife on herself in an attempt to die by suicide in vain.
She had stab wounds in the chest and stomach.
Police were called to the scene and collected the bodies to the mortuary.
The couple is admitted to the hospital for attention amid security.
Kajiado North Police Commander Hussein Gura said police recovered the murder weapon and have launched an investigation.
The incident is under probe. This is linked to societal stress which has caused many murder-suicide incidents, police said.
Up to three cases of suicide are reported daily in the country at an alarming rate.
Cases of suicide have been on the rise this year and authorities blame the trend on mental distress.
Police handled 499 cases in 2019, and 575 in 2020.
At least 313 people are reported to have taken their lives between January and July 2021.
Majority of the victims were male, police reports say.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says such cases are attributed to joblessness, the breakup of relationships or a death, academic failures or pressures, legal difficulties, financial difficulties, bullying, previous suicide attempts, history of suicide in a family, alcoholism and substance misuse, depression and bipolar disorder.
Globally, close to 800,000 people die of suicide every year with an estimated 78 per cent of cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
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