Policeman kills himself over loan, frustration at work

Grief has engulfed a village in Kisumu County after a family lost their kin, a police officer who committed suicide allegedly over bank loans and frustrations at work.

Tirus Omondi, an officer stationed at Takama in Mandera hanged himself on Tuesday night in his house in Manyatta in Kisumu.

Wednesday, family members were still struggling to come to terms with the loss even as they painfully narrated how bank loans and a meagre salary haunted the officer who was also grappling with sickness.

The officer was alone in the house when he committed the act with his wife saying that she had been away from the house for about two weeks after she went to visit her parents in Kitale.

Interviews with his kin established that the officer had been battling depression even as they said that his decision to take his life had left the family broken.

Rose Shamala, the wife to the deceased told The Standard that her husband had been depressed because of loans and debts and had been also reluctant to go back to work after being bedridden for several months.

She said her husband had a deadline of June this year to clear two of the loans he had taken to pay for the school fees of his siblings and had been worried about it.

“He had several loans and his pay slip was always reading zero. He never earned anything,” said Shamala.

She however said that she did not suspect that her husband would decide to take his own life despite the horde of challenges their family faced.

The distraught wife said that her husband had been in and out of hospitals and had been on a sick leave for about a year.

She however noted that his condition had improved but was still reluctant to report back to his work station citing frustrations.

Shamala said she last spoke to her husband on Monday and had planned to return back to their house this week ahead of the opening of schools next week to take their daughter to school.

When The Standard visited their house, a number of family members and close friends were sitting quietly in grief as they struggled to come to terms with the loss.

Janet Adhiambo, a sister who found his body dangling from the roof of their one bedroom house said that she had gone to check up on him on Tuesday night but was surprised when no one answered the door even though the door was open with lights open.

She said she was startled by the silence and when she entered, she met the horrific scene of her dead brother in his bedroom.

“I was shaken, shocked and broken beyond words,” said Adhiambo.

Adhiambo noted that her brother had also told her about the loans that he was struggling with adding that his also had kidney problems but she knew the problems will come to pass.

“We are broken as a family and we do not know why he opted to do this,” said Adhiambo.

Her sentiments were shared with Evelyn Afwamba, a cousin who said that the deceased visited her about three weeks ago and informed her that he was contemplating reporting back to work.

A note that was found next to the body of the officer had calculations with a listing of months of the year with the writings,”negative salary”. A name of a bank was also indicated in the piece of paper with words, “suicide”.

County commander John Kamau said that the deceased also indicated in the note that his pay slip was reading zero.

“It was a case of suicide. He seemed to have several issues and I think he was depression,” said Kamau.

The body of the officer was taken to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Mortuary.