An 18-year-old female student in Balaka has committed suicide by hanging after her parents cautioned her over her tendency of sneaking to her boyfriend during the night.

Balaka police spokesperson Sub-Inspector Joseph Sauka confirmed of the incident and identified the deceased as Francisca Ronthiwa, a form three at Mbera Community Day Secondary School.

“The girl was used to sneak out of the house during night time to her boy friend a development that had been annoying her parents who wanted her to concentrate on her education. A day before this fateful day, the deceased was cautioned by her father after she sneaked out of the house to her boy friend; and this did not please her,” says Sauka.

According to Sauka, on July 26 the deceased left her home after telling her relatives that she was not going far but never returned. She was later found dead in a mango tree where she hanged herself using her silk chitenje (wrapper).

Postmortem results conducted at Balaka District Hospital revealed that the deceased died of suffocation.

Rothiwa hails from Masikini village, Traditional Authority Likoswe in Chiradzulu district.