NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 9-The family of police constable Benson Imbatu, who killed six people in Kabete before killing himself, has expressed shock that their kin could have committed such a heinous act.
The deceased’s mother Rael Imbatu said that when news circulated that his son had killed six people, it was quite tough and confusing to accept that he was capable of such acts.
“I was shocked. I was without strength when I heard what he did. He was a good man, very caring, he listened to what he was told and always interacted with everyone very well,” she said.
And while the news of the incident was shocking, she was equally perturbed to learn that her son had another wife in Nairobi. The deceased had another wife in the village in Kitale and had sired three children with her.
It remains to be established why he would commit such an atrocious act.
“We can’t even imagine what drove him to such madness,” one of his colleagues told Shahidi News.
The officer was attached at the Kabete police station. On the fateful Tuesday morning, the officer was at his workstation, but at about 1 am, he left work and proceeded home while armed with his AK-47 assault rifle.
Moments after arriving home, he shot dead his wife Carol Asava, before leaving aboard his vehicle.
“We want to know whether someone slept on their job,” said activists who demonstrated the killings on Wednesday.
Human Rights defenders are now calling on the government to fully investigate the matter with Interior cabinet secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i Tuesday hinting at a possible love triangle as a possible cause of the killings.
Others say that the officer who was under investigation by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) might have been battling mental health issues.
“We want families and friends of the victims to be given psychosocial support in order to avoid them falling into depression,” a human rights defender, Sabu Dorcas said.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) alongside the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) of the police is investigating the matter.
The government is also set to commit more resources to mental health and counselling in the Police and Prisons departments to help officers deal with stress and other personal challenges.
The National Police Service Commission is in the process of setting up a mental health wing, that will cater for the needs of all police officers.
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