51-year-old man attempts to kill wife of 13 years after family complains he has abandoned them

A 51-year-old man is in the grips of the Asankragwa Police for attempting to kill his wife with the excuse that he had been receiving incessant accusations from his extended family members that he has neglected them, focusing all his financial resources on his spouse.

Francis Duku was arrested after he tried to slash his wife and then take his own life on Thursday, July 21, 2022, at about 3:00 am, a report by 3news.com has said.

Francis sustained self-inflicted wounds in the stomach while his wife sustained machete wounds on her neck, head and her back, it added.

According to the details of the story, Francis Duku asked his wife of 13 years, Aba Yaaba, to sleep on the floor (with the children) the night before the incident but woke up at dawn to take out his dastardly act.

Before that, however, Aba Yaaba explained that she noticed an unusual behaviour with her husband, adding that, “most of the times, you see him speaking to himself.”

Speaking from her sick bed after sustaining machete wounds on her neck, head and her back, she added that the night before, the two of them had shared a good time laughing together.

“In the evening while we were preparing to sleep, he asked that I go sleep on the floor. With some hesitation, I did because sleeping on the floor meant sleeping with the children. He left the room and I slept. I woke up with a start to see my husband kneeling close to where I was sleeping with a machete. Before I could say anything, he started cutting me. Amidst screams, I started to struggle with him. Miraculously, I was able to escape from his grips and I came outside…

“We have been married for the past 13 years and have 4 children together. To the best of my knowledge, I have not wronged him in any way. We have been living peacefully together all these years. This is the first time he is showing this violent behaviour. In fact, the night before he attempted to take my life, he came to sit by me at where I sell my groundnuts and we had a good laugh together,” she said.

She said that it took her neighbours to save her from further harm from her husband, leaving their children in a state of utter shock.

In his narration, Francis Duku, who was also on admission at the Asankragwa Catholic Hospital, said that he decided to take his life and that of his wife because of pressure from his extended family.

“The accusations kept coming each day. Later it turned into death threats. No matter how hard I explained they will not listen and that was having a heavy toll on me. So, I decided to end everything by killing us both.

“I have no problem with my wife, we have been living peacefully together,” he explained.