A 24-year-old semi-collective passenger transport collector is accused of beating his wife to death, in the Muatala neighborhood, on the outskirts of the city of Nampula, allegedly because the victim had aborted a one-month pregnancy without her consent.

The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) have taken the accused to their cells, where they hope the subsequent proceedings will lead to his being held accountable.

The situation has sown anguish and dread among the population of the Muatala neighborhood, who say they received the information with great sadness.

"This young man, when he married this lady who was older than him, we knew that something wasn't going to go well. In our opinion, the young man wanted to take refuge, so he wanted to have a child with her in order to guarantee his stay in his wife's house. There's no justification for killing your wife for the sake of having an abortion," says Elisa Carlos, the couple's neighbor.

"It's all in conversation, and because the house they lived in belonged to his wife, he was insecure. He found the victim already with many children, and he wanted to have his children with her," he said.

Another neighbor commented, when interviewed by the IkweliHe said that "the young man had had plans for a long time. Because he had no schooling, he thought that by taking his wife's life he would keep everything, even the fields they owned."

The accused says that it was not his intention to murder the deceased, but he was just trying to get an explanation as to why she miscarried.

The fight that resulted in her death took place on Saturday, when the murderer returned home after disappearing in pursuit of the miscarried pregnant woman.

"Last Friday I wanted to leave the house and I stayed where I was, I came back on Saturday and when I got home she asked me where I had slept, but I told her I was at my father's house and from there she called me into the bedroom and said that the field and everything I have with you, if you want to separate, she won't take anything. From there I said yes, but as there was half a bag of cement inside, I said I'll take it and she came in with a knife and started making a fuss. From there we started fighting and she fell and I took her to hospital and she died, which is why I'm here. So I'm very sorry," he said.

Nilza Chaúque, spokesperson for the PRM in Nampula, has no doubt that the motive for the murder was abortion, but believes that the victim simply wanted to dedicate herself to raising her four children.

The accused was presented at the usual weekly press briefing, along with five others accused of supplying and trafficking drugs, especially heroin. This group was renting a house in the military zone, on the outskirts of the city of Nampula.

Of these five smokehouses, the head of the group, 50 years old and from the city of Beira, said that he had been living in Nampula province for more than five years, where he engaged in these illegal practices.

"I usually buy this drug at the airport traffic circle, and each pellet sells for 100.00Mt (one hundred meticais). I don't know where it comes from and I'm also worried about where this drug goes until it reaches us," said the accused. (Texo: Ikweli Newspaper)