The Eastern Equatoria State Government has openly praised the security guard who killed a suspected thief who broke into the state revenue authority headquarters last week.
On Thursday last week, three suspected criminals broke into the revenue authority office at 9:00 p.m. and one of them was neutralized by the guard while the other fled.
The guard, John Marcello Ochaya, was lauded at a joint press conference on Monday by the state minister of information, minister of local government, and the mayor of Torit Municipal Council.
Information Minister Elia John Ahaji hailed the security guard for protecting the government facility.
“One of the thieves successfully managed to gain access into the office and stabbed the guard, John Marcello Ochaya, who later wrestled and overpowered the criminal identified as Jidu Osuru Bouda Olima, 40, from Mura Hatiha village, grabbed the knife and knifed him to death,” he stated. “The body of the suspected criminal was then taken to Torit State Hospital for a postmortem before being handed over to the family for burial.”
He added: “The state government would like to sincerely appreciate the diligent guard who is nursing his wounds at Torit State Hospital for exercising discipline in executing his duties by protecting the government property from criminals.”
Flora Sebit Jada, a civil society activist who works for the Women Agency for Progress Organization (WAPO) urged the government to deploy policemen with arms instead of security guards to protect government institutions
“I was very happy when I heard this information. God gave this security guard wisdom to use his techniques to overcome the criminals and I wish all security guards do similar work,” she said. “However, it should not just be security guards guarding government institutions but police officers or soldiers with guns.”
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