The local authorities in Eastern Equatoria State’s Magwi County on Monday said they are investigating the killing of a woman in Amee Boma by a mob after she beheaded another woman.
A 58-year-old woman identified as Ayero Betty was stoned to death by a mob for allegedly murdering a 48-year-old woman identified as Adyero Agnes in Magwi over the weekend in Amee Boma, Iwire Payam, by a woman alleged to have been sent from Juba for the mission.
The suspect was then arrested by local youth and after interrogation, she is said to have confessed that they are in groups hunting for people’s heads. She was then killed by a mob.
According to local sources, the revelation that there is a group of people out to cut off peoples’ heads sent shock waves and created fear in Magwi.
First Lieutenant David Atanga, the Deputy Inspector of Police in Magwi County, told Radio Tamazuj that the incident happened last Friday at 4 p.m. and that the killer was a relative of the deceased.
“It was on the 20 December at 4 p.m. and we received a report from Amee that a 58-year-old woman was accused of slaughtering a 48-year-old woman to death,” he explained. “The community reacted by mob justice and killed the alleged killer. The local community said the killer and the deceased are close relatives. The head that was cut off was exhibited and is available.”
For his part, Laboke Sebit, an SPLM-IO member of the state parliament who hails from Magwi County, confirmed and condemned the gruesome murder, saying it is the first time such beheading has happened in Magwi. He however cautioned communities against taking the law in their hands.
“It is the first time that I have heard such a thing in my area. If someone has committed an offense, we have the law and such a person should not be immediately killed but taken to the police and then to court to decide,” he said. “If people are cutting off heads, it will continue because the suspect was killed before being taken to the authorities to reveal the killers.”
Meanwhile, Peter Moyoyo said the mob justice by local communities is wrong and that both the woman who was stoned to death and the mob that killed her committed the crime of murder.
“The law is developed to protect the rights of everybody and what the woman did to her sister is wrong. If at all there were some motives behind her action to kill the woman like witchdoctors or evil acts, it is already a crime under the penal code,” he said. “The community’s reaction to resort to mob justice in such cases and to deter such crimes is a local arrangement but it is also against the law. The community was supposed to arrest and hand the suspected to the police for justice to be carried out. What they did is also a crime.”