Man, 26, Attempts To Kill Girlfriend, Commits Suicide

FRANCISTOWN: A 22-year-old woman who hails from Tonota is said to be battling for her life in hospital after she was stabbed multiple times by her ex-lover at Monarch location.

Her former partner, who is aged 26 years, is said to have later hanged himself in a tree near a soccer field at Monarch Area 6 location.

The incident that happened on Thursday night was confirmed by the acting Francistown Police station commander, assistant superintendent Tumeletso Poloka.

It is believed that the object that was used to stab the woman is a knife. The woman is currently hospitalised at Nyangabwe Referral Hospital.

The deceased was discovered hanging from a tree by a passer-by on Friday according to the police. In addition, the man was said to be an employee of one of the hardware stores in the city.

“We are still trying to establish what could have been the motive for the stabbing because the two were no longer lovers. From what we have gathered so far, they only shared a child. Even the people who are familiar with the two do not know what could have triggered the incident,” Poloka said.

“The stabbing happened at the women’s rented house at Area 8 location on Thursday night. It appears as if the man then fled the scene to hang himself thinking that he has killed the woman. Because of the multiple stab wounds it is easy to tell that the man had an intention to kill the 22-yearold.” The deceased lived at a place near the field where he hanged himself according to the police.

Poloka said the police are pinning their hopes on the 22-year-old woman to recover so that they can establish what could have transpired on the day of the incident. “At the moment the woman is in a very critical condition.” For some years the country has been struggling with growing cases of passion killings and gender-based violence (GBV). Week in week out the country records high numbers of GBV and passion killing cases.

In most of the cases women are the victims. Various initiatives have in recent times been launched to counter GBV and passion killing cases, but they are yet to prove very effective.