A 28 year old man reportedly  committed suicide in Machinga in fear of his wife would plan for a divorce following a series of gender based violence acts that resulted into bruises and other physical assaults, according to police in the district.

Machinga Police Public Relations Officer, Constable Davie Sulumba confirmed the death of Witness Chindimba of Mseka Village in the area of Paramount Chief Kawinga in the district.

“The deceased was found hanging to a mango tree branch at Maulana Village in the area of Traditional Authority Chikweo where he married Violet Bisiman,” Sulumba told Malawi News Agency on Friday.

Sulumba alleged that Chindimba used to beat his wife whenever the two disagreed on family matters such that the wife referred the matter to marriage counselors to facilitate a divorce.

He said the wife insisted on divorcing him during the mediations with the marriage counselors such that discussions were adjourned to a later date.

“The wife discovered her husband hanging on a rope,” Sulumba said, adding that Chindimba’s body was taken to Chikweo Health Centre where postmortem indicated that he died due to strangulation.

-Nyatimes