Man kills wife for demanding HIV test before sex

A man aged between 50 and 55 years old from Mwanza in Tanzania killed his wife on Sunday, April 26 after she demanded that they undergo HIV tests before they could get intimate.

Laurent Herman, who had been away from his matrimonial home for over a year, is said to have reached for a heavy object and struck his wife, Anastacia Zacharia, in the head, killing her on the spot at 10:30pm.

The incident happened at Buhanji area in Mbarika Ward, Mwanza region.

Confirming the incident, Mwanza Regional Police Commander, Jumanne Murilo, said after killing Anastacia, who was aged between 40 and 45 years old, Laurent swallowed poison and died a day later at the Mbarika Health Centre, where he had been taken to by neighbours.

“The woman had demanded that she and her husband take HIV tests before they could have sexual intercourse. She suspected that her spouse could be an HIV carrier, given he had spent many months away from home, and she wasn’t sure if he was practicing safe sex where he was. Laurent was angered by his wife’s proposal and, as a result, reached for a heavy object and fatally hit her in the head,” Murilo told journalists.

The Mwanza chief cop did not reveal if the couple had any children, and the number of years the pair had been married.

Murilo did not also reveal where Laurent had been for the entire year he was away from his wife, a farmer by profession.

Bodies of the couple were taken to Mbarika Health Centre morgue, where they are preserved as respective families plan their burial.