A 22-year-old correctional officer in Ndola shot himself dead while on duty after talking to a woman said to be his girlfriend. Copperbelt commissioner of police Charity Katanga and Zambia Correctional Service public relations manager Doreen Ngoma said in separate interviews yesterday that Richard Nawa killed himself around 22:30 hours.

Mr Nawa used a ninemillimetre Browning pistol to shoot himself in the head. “He reported for work at 18:00 hours at Peter Singogo Remand Correctional Facility. They were five on duty and he was left alone when the other officers went on patrol. “While outside, they heard a gunshot and when they rushed back, they found him in a pool of blood with a pistol in his hand.

“It is believed that he exchanged some words with his girlfriend before he killed himself,” Mrs Katanga said. Ms Ngoma could not state if Nawa exhibited some strange behaviour while at work before he took his life.

In April this year, a 34-yearold police officer at Namwala Police Station in Southern Province committed suicide in mysterious circumstances. Constable Elzier Lubinda shot himself with an AK47 rifle and died on the spot.

The incident was barely a week after another police officer, Jackson Mwanza, committed suicide in Lusaka after he killed two people and wounded two others. And in May, another officer in Solwezi shot himself dead. Constable Henry Zulu shot himself using an AK47 rifle