A 40-year-old man identified only as Awor took his own life on Wednesday after beating his wife to a comma in Eastern Equatoria State’s Lafon County.
According to local authorities, the couple had an altercation after imbibing alcohol that prompted the man to beat his wife on Tuesday night. Upon realizing that his wife was in critical condition the next day after sobering up, he hanged himself.
The non-responsive woman was however rushed to Lafon Primary Health Care Center for medication but died of her injuries on Wednesday.
Augustine Lijok, the Payam Head Chief of Lafon County, told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that the man hanged himself at around 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
“The issue started as a fight between a wife and a husband and the man, upon realizing he had beaten his wife to death, decided to commit suicide. He was called Awor and was in his 40s. The incident happened in the center of Lafon,” he stated. “The woman sustained complications in the neck that caused her death. Even when she was taken to the hospital, she was unable to communicate. She was in her 30s.”
Lijok added: “We advise people not to take or abuse alcohol but they neglect the advice.”
For his part, Visal Likale, an SPLM-IO Member of Parliament representing the area in the state parliament, confirmed the incident and urged the local government to restrict the consumption of alcohol.
“The incident happened the day before yesterday and when the alcohol disappeared from his body, the man saw that the condition of his wife was serious and decided to hang himself,” he said. “Later, we also got sad information that the woman who was rushed to the health facility passed away. Chiefs have a key role to play in creating awareness to the community and the local government administration should put restrictions on alcohol consumption by reducing it.”
Meanwhile, Flora Sebit Jada, a woman activist in Eastern Equatoria State who works for the Women Agency for Progress Organization (WAPO), condemned the incidents and called on the government to intervene.
“Excessive consumption of alcohol is a major issue affecting communities and contributing to conflicts among family members, especially wife beating and fighting. Gender-based violence is very high and is caused by alcohol abuse,” she asserted. “When one is beaten, they are either injured or die. This is a very great loss because the two of them died. The man should have stood strong to look after the children left behind but now they both are dead. Who will look after these children?”
“Let agencies increase awareness on bad cultural practices and the economic crisis and we need the government to look into this issue,” Sebit concluded.