• Police reports indicate that Constable Elias Too took his life by shooting himself in the head using a G3 Rifle.
• Kitale Medium Prison Officer in charge Julius Kaliakamur, confirmed the incident.
Image: THE STAR
Grief and shock engulfed Lessos Estate in Kwanza subcounty, Trans Nzoia county, on Thursday after a 25-year-old Kenya Prisons Services officer fatally shot himself in his house.
Police reports indicate that Constable Elias Too took his life by shooting himself in the head using a G3 Rifle.
Kitale Medium Prison Officer in charge Julius Kaliakamur, confirmed the incident , saying that the 25-year constable did not leave behind any suicide note and did not show any sign of disturbance.
According to the police reports obtained by the Star, the deceased committed the act while in his house in Lessos estate.
Kaliakamur on Thursday said the officer who was on a night shift sneaked from his duty station with a G3 rifle.
“Elias was on duty last night and managed to sneak out with his firearm, his colleagues got concerned when they realised that he was not there, forcing us to go to his house only to find his lifeless body on the bed in Lessos," said Kaliamur.
The prisons boss confirmed that the warden who had worked for a period of three years at the station had requested for a transfer which was being worked on.
“The officer had actually applied for a transfer which we had received and forwarded to the regional prisons Commander in Nakuru; there is no malice in the transfer since it’s a normal thing for any officer to seek for one’’, he said.
Kaliamur expressed shock at the death of the officer whom he described as dedicated to his duties.
“It is shocking for us as an institution to have lost such a dependable young officer who decided to end his own life, we are perturbed at the decision the cool and noncombatant officer took ," he said.
Kaliamur said the reason for the suicide is still unknown.
A caretaker Immaculate Patricia in Lessos where the warden has been staying said the officer was a jovial man .
She said the warden had had two months arrears and that this and workplace challenges might have compounded the decision to end his life.
“He was a man of very few words and you could not see him entertain friends like other people. There must have been a slight problem with his finances when he failed to pay his rent for two months as it has been his trend paying rent late’’, Immaculate said.
The Director of the Centre for the Restoration of Human Rights and democracy Keffa Were said incidents of police officers taking their own life were alarming and asked the Cabinet secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government to address the welfare of police officers.
“Incidences of police officers either committing suicide or killing their spouces are on the rise due to depression and workplace challenges. The Cabinet Secretary Interior and National coordination should address the matter once and for all’’, he said.
The body of the deceased officer has been taken to Cherangany Nursing Home morgue awaiting an autopsy.