Wife's abuse forces man to drink poison

A 61-YEAR-OLD man drank a poisonous concoction in an attempt to kill himself because his wife of 37 years was abusing him verbally and accusing him of cheating.

Matho Ndlovu, who is battling for his life at Plumtree District Hospital, said he mixed rat poison with a plant chemical and drank the mixture with an intention to end his life.

He was admitted at hospital last week where he is still hospitalised after his condition worsened on Thursday.

He said his wife was always tormenting him, constantly insulting him in full view of their neighbours.

"My wife works in South Africa and she fell ill three months ago. I failed to go and see her because my passport had expired and that was when things worsened.

"I tried explaining this to her but she would not understand. She started accusing me of neglecting her and seeing other women."

He said as a result, things between them were not going well with his wife turning their five children against him.

"There is a lot of tension between us to the extent that we've been sleeping in separate rooms for a long time now.

"She told me that I was the one who bewitched her in a bid to get rid of her and replace her with another woman.

"She went on to tell this to my children who turned against me after believing that I was illtreating their mother."

Ndlovu said he got fed up of the verbal abuse from his wife and children and decided to kill himself.

"I woke up one morning around 4AM and drank the concoction. I then proceeded to where my wife was sleeping and I told her that I was about to die.

"She then forced me to go to the hospital and threatened to alert the police if I refused.

"At the time I was experiencing stomach pains and I was vomiting but I did not want to seek medical help, I just wanted to die," said Ndlovu.

His wife, Similo Sibanda, described her husband's act of attempted suicide as foolishness.

She said she dragged her husband to the clinic after he had taken the concoction.

Sibanda said there was tension between them after her husband did not bother to make any efforts to visit her when she was hospitalised for two months in South Africa.

She said during her hospitalisation she had been operated on and was unable to do things for herself for some time.

"During that time complete strangers and distant relatives were there for me and my husband was nowhere to be found.

"I don't even buy his story about failing to come because of the passport because if he really wanted to see me he would have made an effort," said Sibanda.

Ndlovu's brother - Grey Ndlovu who is also Chief Madlambuzi's secretary, said his brother used chemicals which were left under his care by community members to try and commit suicide.

"There is a garden project which we are operating in our village. Matho is the treasurer of the project and his duties involve keeping plant chemicals.

"These are the chemicals which he used to try and kill himself," said Grey.

Chief Madlambuzi said he would engage the couple once Ndlovu was discharged from hospital in a bid to resolve their dispute since the matter was under his district.