A detective attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigatigations headquarters is nursing body injuries after she set reportedly herself on fire.
A report by K24 TV indicated that the officer, Dorina Luchera, doused her body in paraffin before setting herself ablaze following a quarrel with her husband, identified as Joshua Makanga.
The broadcaster further noted that Makanga, a police constable, had recorded a statement at Machinery Police Station in Makueni County where he is attached detailing the incident.
He alleged that his wife had burned herself as a reaction to a marital dispute the duo had squabbled over.
According to police records, Luchera sustained 52% burns.
“Police officers rushed to the scene and found that the officer had sustained 52% burns all over her body,” read the report in part.
She was taken to Kibwezi Sub-County Hospital where she is still receiving treatment.
Her case compounds the troubling statistics of police officers committing or attempted suicide with mental health being identified as one of the major causes.
According to the 2018 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 421 police officers committed (or attempted) suicide in 2017.
The World Health Organisation, on the other hand, through a report titled Depression and other Common Mental Disorders, showed that 4.4% of the overall Kenyan population suffered depression in 2015.
The report also ranked Kenya as the sixth most depressed country in Africa.
The issue has only been compounded since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March resulting in an economic downtime.
The pandemic has also exacerbated domestic violence and sexual abuse problems across the country.
