Malawi woman, man commit suicide by hanging
A man and woman have committed suicide by hanging in separate incidents following a protracted illness and marital problems respectively in Machinga district.
The two have been identified as 26-year-old primary school teacher Henderson Mapilo of Kaukutu village, T/A Nyambi and Unity Hobson, 23, from Kutengule village, TA Mposa both from the district.
Machinga Police Spokesperson Amos Tione told Nyasa Times the youthful teacher was forced to take his own life after suffering from hysteria since 2006.
“Following his protracted condition, Mapilo decided to take his own life by hanging. He hanged himself in Mpalangwazi hills on 1st April,” explained Tione
Late Mapilo, an Open Distance Learning (ODL) teacher, is survived by a wife.
As for Hobson, Tione said the deceased has had undisclosed problems with her husband and after failing to resolve them family members decided to invite church (Jehovah’s Witness) elders to assist in mediation.
“The church elders went to the deceased house on Thursday [4th April] to mediate but the two parties failed to reach a common understanding so they settled to meet again the following day.
“But during the same night, the deceased decided to cut her life short. She sneaked out of their house and hanged on a tree using her chitenje [wrapper] in a nearby maize garden,” explained the police spokesperson.
Meanwhile, police have expressed shock at the alarming rate of suicides taking place in the district where three people have so far killed themselves in few days.
“As police we are concerned with these rising cases of suicides. Just a few weeks ago, a man was found hanging in a mosque in Nsanama area and now we have these two incidents in a space of just two days. This is a deplorable state of affairs.
“We are appealing to members of the community not only from Machinga but across the country to avoid resorting to taking their own lives. Every problem has a solution no matter how serious it may be as such people must ensure they share those problems with close friends or relatives who can assist to solve them,” he appealed.
He said as a way of mitigating the rising incidents, police have embarked on sensitizing community members in the district against committing suicide whenever they have problems “but seek police assistance or that of their relatives and close friends.”
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