Kenyan Man Who Sought Recognition as Husband of a Canadian Woman Killed in Ethiopian Airlines Crash Dies By Suicide

A Kenyan man claiming to be the husband of a Canadian woman who was killed in the March 10th, 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash has died by suicide.

The body of 32-year-old Brian Aris Kobiero, a teacher at Nyang’oma Boys Secondary School, was found dangling from a tree by his father at their compound in Sega, Siaya County on Thursday.

Confirming the incident, Ugenya North Chief Joseph Oroko said the teacher may have committed suicide due to depression caused by the court case in which he sought to be recognized as the husband of Canadian woman Christine Tanner. The chief said the deceased was devastated after Tanner’s son Hunter Tanner French, who lives in Canada, refused to recognize him.

Kobiero, who stood to gain millions in compensation fees for the death of Ms. Tanner if he won the court case, had sued Hunter, who was reportedly left as the trustee of his late mother’s estate.

On march 25th, Kobiero told the Siaya High Court that he met Ms. Tanner on LinkedIn where they clicked over their love for education, and she eventually moved to Kenya where they lived together in his house in Narok. He added that he even took her to his rural home in Sega where he introduced her to his family as his wife.

“I renovated and re-thatched my house ‘simba’ as required by the Luo traditions of a man ready to marry, she was welcomed and the marriage ceremony was conducted as the culture requires,” he said.

Kobiero further claimed that when Ms. Tanner died in the crash, he spent three nights outside his house as required of a widower under Luo customs of burial rites to signify mourning of the lost loved one. 

“I have not entered into any relationship or been in any intimate affair with any woman ever since I lost my wife,” he added.

But Hunter dismissed Kobiero’s claims, saying that he was very close with his mother and she never informed him of any marriage, or relationship with a Kenyan man.

Siaya High Court Judge Roselyn Aburili had set the date for the pretrial hearing as September 20th, 2022.

Tanner was among the 157 people who were killed when the Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed shortly after leaving Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.