Nairobi, Kenya, December 8 – Police are investigating the death of a young man who repotedly committed suicide on Saturday after English Premier League champions Manchester United went down at home to Newcastle.
The United fan met his death in Nairobi’s Pipeline Estate and according to County Police boss Benson Kibui, the young man identified as John Macharia, jumped from seventh floor of the building where he was living and died instantly.
“I confirm that we received the news of a young man who could not stand to see his Manchester United team lose, and instead decided he can die for the sake of a team that is miles far away in Europe.
“We are treating this matter as a case and since this is not the first time we have received such cases, I wish to advice football fans in our country to rather support Harambee Stars than those teams in England who does not recognize them,” the Police boss told Capital Sport.
The defending champions who have gone three matches without winning under the new manager David Moyes, have experienced a poor start of the season to see them placed ninth with 22 points, 13 behind leaders Arsenal.
In May 2009, a Kenyan Arsenal fan committed suicide following his team’s 4-1 aggregate drubbing by arch-rivals United in the UEFA Champions League semi-final.
Suleiman Alphonso Omondi, 29, living in Nairobi’s Embakasi neighbourhood that is next to Pipeline Estate in Nairobi’s east hung himself in his Arsenal shirt after the match.
His friends told Capital News at the time that he had been watching the match at a pub, about 100m from his house.
“We were watching the match together, and when Arsenal was defeated, he protested and walked out crying as Man-U fans castigated the losers,” Omondi Oloo, one of his friends said.
Another friend, Calvin Otieno, who confessed to be an Arsenal fan added the deceased was a die-hard fan who would suspend any business at whatever time to watch a Gunners’ game.