Police Officer Shoots Self Dead A Month After Return From A Rehabilitation Centre

NYERI, Kenya, Apr 28- Police are investigating an incident in which a policeman died by suicide in Kimathi estate, Nyeri County.

Constable Patrice Messo, 37 used his gun to shoot herself through the chin and the bullet exited through the mouth.

Police said they recovered an AK47 rifle from the scene and two spent cartridges.

The officer has served for approximately a month since he returned from rehabilitation centre in Kikuyu, Kiambu county.

The motive of the incident is yet to be known.

The body was moved to the mortuary.

This is the latest incident to affect the service in a series that have been registered in the past months where police are committing suicide.

This month alone, four other police officers have lost their lives through suspected suicide.

Such killings have been linked to among other things failing mental health among police officers.

Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai recently revealed that 2,000 police officers were mentally unfit to continue serving within the National Police Service.

“We have subjected all the officers [to medical examination], and to our surprise, we got a big number [of mentally-disturbed police officers]. We isolated almost 2,000 police officers who are unfit to do their law enforcement work,” he said.

He noted that the officers would undergo counseling sessions before they resume official duties. 

“The Police Service has now started the process of managing some of them. To remove someone from work [because of medical grounds] is not easy. The government has its processes. Our tool of work is the gun, and when one bullet is discharged, the implications are serious,” he said.