A police officer committed suicide at Cianda Police Patrol Base in Kiambu County on Monday, August 30.
According to a police report filed at the Kiambu Police Station, officer Charles Maina committed suicide in his house within the patrol base.
The incident was reported by Anthony Mwangi, the officer in charge of the base, who found the body of the 42-year-old hanging from a ventilation.
"He found the body of the said officer hanging from a ventilation in his house within the Cianda Police Patrol Base line,” the police report reads in part.
The deceased reportedly hanged himself using a bag carrier belt which he had superimposed on a stick outside his house.
Upon getting wind of the suicide, officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) as well as those from Kiambu Police station rushed to the scene and found the officer's lifeless body hanging in his house.
DCI homicide investigators processed the scene and confirmed that there was no suicide note left by the officer. In addition, the police noted that there were no visible injuries on the deceased officer's body.
Maina's body was taken to the Kenyatta University Referral Hospital Mortuary awaiting an autopsy.
This is the third suicide incident by a police officer reported this month. On August 10, officer James Nderitu died after setting himself ablaze in his rural home in Mwigoyo village, Nyeri County.
On August 12, Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai, unveiled a counselling program for police officers and their families at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) training school in Nairobi.
The Ministry of Health also raised a red flag concerning the state of the mental health of Kenyans, referring to it as a ticking time bomb.
