Another cop shoots himself dead in Half-Asini

The District Commander of Half-Asini, Superintendent of Police (SP) Cyprian Zenge, has allegedly committed suicide.

It is the second time a police officer has committed suicide at Half Asini in less than two years.

The first was a sergeant but this time, the commander.
Mr Zenge is reported to have shot himself in the head at about 7 am on Saturday, January 30.

He is believed to have snapped his own life with a pistol at his home.
A suicide note at the scene read:” I am fed up in this world”.

Western Regional Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Olivia Adiku, confirmed the death.

In a release, she said the Regional Crime Scene Team visited the residence where the deceased was found “sitting in a blue chair with a gunshot wound on his forehead”.

The pistol was found beside the body and one spent bullet shell under the seat.
The police said investigations have commenced with the scope beyond suicide.

Police suicide history in Half-Assini

The commander’s death is not the first to hit that jurisdiction.

In March 2019, Sergeant Fuseini Mohammed of the Marine Police Unit and one of the officers guarding the Osagyefo Power Barge also shot and killed himself.

Reports indicated that he wilfully sent his supporting guard to buy him a razor blade just to allow him space and freedom to commit the suicide.

Sgt Mohammed was found lying in a supine position in a pool of blood dead with the AK 47 rifle he used in the suicide by his legs.

A suicide note left behind read, “I can’t take this disgrace, something I don’t know about.”

He also wrote the mobile phone numbers of his wife, one Hajia and one Bianka on a sheet of paper.

Some police officers had been accused of theft, but Sergeant Mohammed was not part of the culprits.

Suicide records

The WHO has shown that a person dies every 40 seconds by suicide worldwide, with 25 more people attempting suicide.

This puts the data of persons dying averagely per year to suicide at approximately 800,000.

Director-General at the Mental Health Authority, Dr Kwasi Osei, stated in 2019 that an NGO pegged suicided in Ghana at 1,500 deaths per annum.