A mentally ill man wielding a machete stormed the Nzara market in Western Equatoria State on Wednesday and killed a Sudanese trader identified as Mohammed Abdulrahman and injured another trader.
Nzara County Commissioner Richard Zizi told Radio Tamazuj Friday that the perpetrator identified as Zaiko Patrick has been arrested and the law will take its course.
“It was on Wednesday around 1:30 pm when I received the call from my security personnel that there is an incident at the marketplace. They said a certain man named Zaiko Patrick who has some mental problem went with the panga to the marketplace and start hunting and cutting people,” he explained. “He cut the head of Mohamed Abdulrahman known by the name Muhamed Sapsap.”
He said the trader was severely injured by the cut and succumbed in the hospital, while another man was getting treatment for cuts on his body.
Commissioner Zizi passed his condolences to the family of the deceased and appealed that they await the court’s verdict on the matter assuring them that it was an isolated case and not an attack on the Sudanese community in Nzara.
“We pass our condolences to them (Sudanese) for the loss of our big trader here in Nzara. It is an isolated case, it is not that they are targeting them, but it is because of this mentally ill man. We are deeply sorry,” he said.
“Mohamed Sapsap has been serving us, his serving does not mean only getting money but he is serving us also the community members, some of the commodities we are unable to get he was able to provide them for us and he has a good relationship with Nzara communities,” he added.
According to the commissioner, this is the second murder perpetrated by the same man. He said the mentally-ill man also killed his brother sometime back.
Efforts to reach the chairperson of the Darfur community in Western Equatoria State for comment were unsuccessful.