Dubai: A failed marriage caused a clinically depressed Emirati man, who allegedly had not been allowed to see his children for a year, to commit suicide at his brother's home on Wednesday early morning.
The 42-year-old father of seven children was separated from his wife and was battling continuous court hearings after his wife had decided to end her marriage, Colonel Saleh Humaid, Director of Al Rashidiya Police Station told Gulf News. A neighbour said that the wife did not allow the man to see his children for one year.
The operations room of Dubai Police received a call at 4.30am on Wednesday about a body in a villa in Al Warqa 3.
"While the deceased's elder brother was on his way to dawn prayers he found his brother hanging from a rope which was hooked to the ceiling of a shade," said Colonel Humaid.
Upon examining the scene, forensic experts confirmed it as a suicide taking into consideration his history of depression and treatment at one of the hospitals.
"Investigation revealed that the man was going through disputes with his wife and [they] were in the process of getting a divorce," he said.
The man had moved out of his home to live in his brother's house in an adjacent room beside the villa.
"The family has confirmed that the man was going through difficult times and had been suffering from severe emotional problems.
"He had threatened to commit suicide several times which forced his family to admit him to a hospital to receive treatment," said Col Humaid.
One hour before the suicide, his wife, who was living in Al Rashidiya, had called Dubai Police Operations Room at around 3am complaining about strange noises in her house and that someone has ransacked it. She said that she suspected "jinn" or ghosts of committing these acts, he said.
After discovering the death of her husband, the woman, who claimed she was divorced, informed the police that her husband might have caused the noise. Police took fingerprints from the victim to compare them with the fingerprints in the wife's house, said Col Humaid.
"We have requested the wife to officially give her statements at the police station till now she didn't show up," he said.