REVEALED: Suicide officer was a tormented soul
A woman police officer who committed suicide at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on August 24 was always smiling and seemed unflappable.
Corporal Gauntensia Wausi, one of the few female officers who underwent the gruelling training at the General Service Unit (GSU), had a combination of physical endurance and mental qualities largely above that of the average police officer.
According to her posts on social media shortly before her death, she led a stressful life but due to her composed demeanour, none of her friends and colleagues noticed that behind the smile was a tormented soul.
Even her mother, with whom she was very close to, could not believe she committed suicide and urged detectives to establish if she really killed herself.
“We need to know the truth, we want to know who killed her,” she said.
The uncertainty and stressful life both at home and at work eventually took their toll, without much support from colleagues and friends.
She alluded to her death on her Facebook wall and talked of how unnamed persons were “planning evil against her”.
DIFFICULT LIFE
She wrote: “Life is so difficult when you live in a world where everybody is planning evil against you and what happens when you can’t hold it anymore…”
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when her two weeks’ leave was cancelled and she was directed to report for duty. She complied and 30 minutes later, blew her head off with a pistol.
According to records seen by Daily Nation, Ms Wausi went on leave on August 2 and was to return on August 23.
However, on August 8 she was recalled and told to report to the GSU Training School for a two-week HIV/Aids seminar.
The training ended on August 22 and she expected to resume her leave but was ordered to report on duty. That morning, she went to the armoury and was issued with a Jericho pistol with 15 rounds.
She then went to the radio room where she left her police pocket phone, swagger stick and beret and went to the toilets. She shot herself in the left jaw and the bullet exited through the right side of her head.
An employee of One Way Cleaners, Ms Ann Juma Jillo said she went to clean the toilet an found it locked from inside.
She decided to wait and later saw blood flowing from under the door. She peeped in and saw the officer lying dead with a pistol next to her.
LIGHT OF THE FAMILY
Another police officer, Corporal Mercy Ngaira, said she worked with Wausi at the GSU training school in Embakasi and they interacted closely.
“When I was on night beat, she would take care of my son. There is a day my son fell ill when I was away and she called asking where the hospital insurance documents were and she took him to hospital,” she said.
According to the family, Corporal Wausi was “the light of the family and the region” who brought the extended family together in a WhatsApp group with over 70 relatives.
Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana urged the police to expedite investigations to end speculation on her death.
Her colleagues said the tragedy caught them by surprise.
“She was not only a hard worker but also a very sociable officer,” said colleague Hillary Odiwuor.
She is survived by her eight-year-old son Brian Nzambia.