A jealous pensioner who constantly threatened to commit suicide and make the headlines due to alleged marital problems has carried out his threat by hanging himself in his “chamber and hall” apartment at Anlo Town, a suburb of Koforidua in the Eastern Region. Francis Tei, 65, popularly known in Anlo Town as ‘Pepper’, went to his room in the afternoon of Wednesday, July 30 and used an electric wire to hang himself near his bedroom window. The late Tei, who was retired from the Veterinary Services Department in Koforidua about a year ago, was said to be having ‘serious’ marital problems with his 55-year-old wife, Comfort Asuming, with whom he had four children, the youngest being 18. Sources told DAILY GUIDE that Tei, a habitual drunkard, beat his wife of 35 years anytime he came home after his daily ‘rounds’ with friends. According to sources, the bedroom of ‘Pepper’ virtually became a boxing ring where he subjected his wife to severe beatings, sometimes using sticks and wood. The wife, not being able to cope with the constant thrashing, reported Pepper’s behaviour to the Domestic Violence and Victims’ Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Police Service where she was supposedly advised to as much as possible stay away from the husband before he killed her. However, the woman’s action did not go down well with Tei, who became infuriated the more and decided to destroy everything that belonged to the wife. The woman accordingly advised herself and left her matrimonial home to live with her older daughter about four months ago. Comfort allegedly threatened later that she would divorce Pepper if he did not put a stop to his drinking habit. In an interview with DAILY GUIDE the woman said: “We used to stay happily until he suddenly changed, after taking to drinking. “Sometimes deep in the night he would wake up and wake me up too and start beating me and throwing my belongings outside, waking everybody in the house up in the process. He would then tell me he wants to appear on the front pages of newspapers and as such, he would kill me and kill himself too,” she said. The woman narrated that she had not seen the husband since she left her matrimonial home, until she was informed on Wednesday that the man had committed suicide. Pepper, on the morning of the incident, was said to have been in the company of the assembly member for the area, Ben Sawa Martey and also visited a drinking spot. He was last seen by some of the tenants in the house around midday entering his room drunk, just before a heavy downpour. However, it was not until after the rains had stopped that some of the tenants smelt a rat. They knew Pepper as an outgoing person and since he had not emerged from his room as at evening time they suspected something might be wrong. The assembly member was then called in, and he forced open the door to the deceased’s room, only to see the stiff body of Pepper hanging on an electric wire tied to a big nail on the ceiling. News about the suicide attracted a huge crowd to the house who all wanted to see the ‘hanging’ man. A report was made to the police who came for the body and conveyed it to the central hospital mortuary. The police have already started investigations into the alleged suicide.