Police officer commits suicide in cells

A police officer accused of robbery took his life inside a police cell.

A Directorate of Criminal Investigations report in Kapsabet yesterday indicated that on Tuesday night the officer injured himself on the neck with a piece of broken glass and bled excessively.

Constable Cosmas Kipchumba Biwott of Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) was being held at Nandi-Hills police station.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at the county referral hospital, the report said.

“At about 12.10pm, one prisoner namely No.109805 Police Constable Cosmas Kipchumba Biwott, aged 27, attached to ASTU in Gilgil had critically injured himself,” reads the report.

It further reads: “The suspect had been detained at the station pending investigations into a case of attempted robbery.”

Area OCS Fannuel Chacha said the officer requested to go out to answer the call of nature.

“On the way, he picked a piece of broken glass and seriously injured himself on the right side of his neck and started bleeding profusely,” Mr Chacha said.

Details later emerged that the officer was interdicted last year pending conclusion of a murder case at the High Court in Nakuru County.