Suspected suicide by poison with substance used to preserve grain

According to reports, a 43-year-old Chama District man killed himself by ingesting a deadly substance intended to preserve grain.

The commander of Muchinga Province, Mubanga Kaunda, revealed that Moffat Kaluba of the Makeni B camp committed suicide after people laughed at him for urinating in his pants while out drinking.

According to Mr. Kaunda, Mr. Kaluba was ashamed of what had occurred and hurried home to attempt suicide at that time.

“We received a report from John Kaluba 36 of Government rest house compound that Mr Kaluba died after taking poisonous tablets used to preserve maize.  Brief facts are that Mr Kaluba was drinking an unknown type of beer and became so drunk that he had to defecate  in his trousers causing people to laugh at him. In order to save himself from the self caused embarrassment, he rushed home and took the poisonous tablets,”he said.

He claimed that the incident occurred on Saturday at about 6:00.

When nearby neighbors observed Mr. Kaunda fighting for his life, they decided to rush him to Chama District Hospital, Mr. Kaunda recalled.

He claimed that the body was waiting for a postmortem at the mortuary in the Chama district.