The contents of four suicide notes and interviews with a colleague paint the picture of the distress suffered by a university student who reportedly jumped to his death from an 11-storey building in Nairobi.
Benedict Mberesero, 21, a second-year student at United States International University (USIU)-Africa in Nairobi, was found dead on the ground near the gate to the hostels at 4.30am on Wednesday, according to a police report.
Police have determined the preliminary cause of death as suicide, citing the notes addressed to the victim himself, his mother, brother and sister.
Footage from CCTV cameras retrieved from the premises capture Mberesero, a Tanzanian national, who was pursuing a degree in Arts, Culture and Film, walking from his room on the seventh floor to the 11th floor of the building around 3am.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who visited the scene said Mberesero had a fractured skull, broken legs and arms.
Kasarani area DCI boss Justus Ombati said that crime scene investigators had recovered the five-page document that the police are now treating as a suicide note.
Police have also recorded a statement from a female student who was among the last people who were with the student before his death.
An officer familiar with the investigations said the student told investigators that Mberesero had shown signs of being disturbed for the last one week.
According to the student, Mberesero, who was known to be jovial, started withdrawing from his social group and spent a lot of his time in the hostel. In class, Mberesero was also withdrawn and not as active as he was known to be.
In the note to his mother, Mberesero blamed his parents for his distress, citing their separation following frequent quarrels.
