- It is believed Chebet shot Andari before she turned the rifle on herself.
- She used a G3 rifle in the house and police recovered it with three spent bullets.
Image: HANDOUT
It has happened again.
Another killing of a police officer by a police officer. This time, they were husband and wife.
A love triangle could be behind the murder-suicide of the police couple at Kiungani patrol base in Kiminini, Trans Nzoia county, police said.
Detectives said a check of their latest communications showed that Andati accused his wife of infidelity and at one point had considered murder.
Police said sergeant Dorcas Chebet, 27, and her husband, Alex Andari, 28, died of gunshot wounds from a G3 rifle at their house on Sunday.
It is believed Chebet shot Andari in the chest before she shot herself in the head.
They had a one-year-old child.
Their families said they would be buried separately at their ancestral homes.
Jeremiah Okero Nyangeri, Andari's father, said the two families met at the morgue Monday during the postmortems and agreed each family would bury their relatives at their ancestral homes."
"We agreed each family buries their own. We will be burying Alex at our Nyangina village, in Ikobe sublocation," he told the Star at Kiminini Cottage Hospital morgue.
Chebet's father, Joseph Maiyo, did not object. He was overwhelmed but said his daughter would be buried before her husband.
Detectives who checked their last communications established that he enticed her to come for a new phone as a surprise.
Witnesses said Andari was in the house before Chebet followed him in and they locked themselves inside.
Minutes later, three gunshots were heard and when police broke down the door, they found the bodies sprawled on the floor.
County police commander Jacinta Wesonga said Chebet, who is attached to Kiminini police station, less than 10km from Kiungani, arrived at the post at around 10.30am to visit her husband.
“After an hour or so, officers said they heard a gunshot. About 10 minutes later, they heard another, then the third shortly after,” she said.
Wesonga said they are investigating.
She warned that the "stress and trauma" the officers undergo has often led to emotional scars.
Wesonga said police officers were ordinary people susceptible to mental health challenges like anybody else.
She urged police couples facing trauma to seek counselling instead of taking decisions that can never be reversed.
"However difficult the situation may be, think twice before acting. You can even walk out and move on with your own life before being tempted to end your partner's life," she said.
Tens of police officers have in the past year been killed and injured in similar circumstances in which officers use their issued guns.
Officials said they are trying to reverse the trend with no success so far. Authorities have started a counselling programme for officers.
The National Police Service Commission announced it had established a counselling unit to evaluate the situation, design and lead an outreach programme. They will deal with mental health problems and substance abuse.
The programme will also assist families affected by mental illness, substance abuse and trauma.
Last year, Interior CS Fred Matiang'i encouraged police officers to formalise their unions and inform their human resources departments. Clergy will be asked to encourage as many officers as possible to have formal weddings.
“Like other members of society, police and prisons officers are susceptible to mental health challenges and other pressures including drugs and substance abuse," he said.
Matiang’i said the government, the NPS and Prisons Service have enhanced counselling and medical help for officers.
“There is a deliberate drive to destigmatise mental illness and stress and to actively reach out to potential cases, including through the Nyumba Kumi initiative," Matiang'i said.
(Edited by V. Graham)