A 63 year old man in Kilifi dug his own grave and hung himself off a coconut tree on Friday night.

Mwokoli Baya, a palm wine tapper from Mkongani Village went on a drinking spree where he roamed about lamenting about his woes before finally hanging himself off the tree that provided him with his livelihood.

Mr Baya dug a secret grave without his neighbours noticing.

The Kilifi OCPD Alexander Makau said police were investigating into the suicide theory.

“We want to know the motive behind his death. Sometimes people tend to speculate when one dies but we want to conduct proper investigations into the circumstances that led him to taking his own life,” said Mr Makau.

Neighbours said he was dejected following the fact that his family abandoned him.

“He came to my home carrying some ‘mnazi’ (palm wine),” said one neighbour, Baraka Sheban.

“He started drinking and talking about his death.”

Baya then went to another neighbour and invited him to his burial vigil the next day.

According to Mijikenda tradition, Baya’s family must dig his grave deeper than he did before they can bury him, if they want to avoid being haunted by his spirit.