Police in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State are searching for a man who is believed to have killed his wife in Ezo County on Tuesday night.

Police Commissioner Major General Albino Utho Mariano told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that a 45-year-old man killed his 25-year-old wife, identified as Cecilia Mario, after a fight.

 “What happened was that there was a fight at night between the wife and the husband. The victim, Cecilia Mario, was a mother of a seven-month-old kid,” Mariano said.

“Both quarrelled at night around 11 pm, and during the fight, the woman ran to her family house, and the husband followed and beat the woman with a metal there, so the wife died on the spot,” Mariano explained.

The state police boss said the culprit escaped and they suspect he might have entered the Central Africa Republic since his whereabouts remain unknown.

 “The man's whereabouts remain unknown since he ran away after the incident happened in Ezo, and as you know, Ezo is a border area. So we have not apprehended this person, and he might have crossed into the Central African Republic,” he said.

 “We are in contact with the authorities in the Central African Republic to arrest the culprit because it is now a border issue,” he added.

Mariano also said police in Western Equatoria have also sent security personnel to the Central African Republic to search for the culprit.

Article 206 of the South Sudan Penal Code says whoever causes the death of another person commits the offence of murder and, upon conviction, be sentenced to death or imprisonment for life, and may also be liable to a fine, provided that if the nearest relatives of the deceased opt for customary blood compensation.