A 36-year old man identified as Patrick Nshimiyimana died on Tuesday in what is believed to be a suicide, after he was found hanging on an avocado tree with a rope around his neck.

The father of two was a resident of Nyamata town in Bugesera District.

Speaking to The New Times, Chief Inspector of Police Hamdun Twizeyimana, the police spokesperson for Eastern Region, the incident occurred at around 7pm.

Twizeyimana said that preliminary investigations show that Nshimiyimana could have taken his own life after his estranged wife decided to take away the couple’s children earlier on Tuesday.

He said that the couple had separated but he had maintained custody of their two children.

"He has been having issues with his wife; they used to fight a lot and eventually the wife left him but he had stayed with their two children,” he stated.

On the fateful evening, he went out and left the two children with the house help.

It was during that time that his estranged wife came home and picked the children and left.

Upon returning home, the deceased asked the house-help where the children were and was told that their mother had taken them while he was out and it was at this point that he got a rope and went out to hang himself.

The house-help, who saw all this unfold, immediately ran to call for help but by the time the neighbours arrived, it was too late as he was already dead.

According to Twizeyimana, the body was immediately taken by the Rwanda Investigations Bureau (RIB) to the ADEPR Hospital in Nyamata town for post mortem. 

editor@newtimesrwanda.com