A 40-year-old woman identified as Asunta Ikoi Odongi was shot dead by her brother-in-law in Lobunge village of Imehejek Administrative Area in Eastern Equatoria State last Thursday.
The incident happened when her brother-in-law, James Ohide Ohiyau, returned home late in the night from a marriage ceremony and summoned the deceased demanding food. In the process of being served, he retrieved a gun and shot her in the stomach.
According to authorities, the perpetrator has not yet been apprehended but local youth are looking for him.
Oromo Mathew, the chief administrator of the Imehejek area, told Radio Tamazuj that the incident happened on Thursday at around 1:22 a.m. when the deceased knelt to serve her hungry brother-in-law food.
“Asunta Ikoi Odongi, 40, was shot dead by James Ohide Ohiyua, 29, who is the brother of the late Okori Oturo Ohiyau who was married to the now deceased woman who was inherited by another brother as a wife. The cause of the shooting is not known,” he explained. “The guy went to the house of the lady and found the brother who stays with the lady asleep. He called the lady who came out and greeted him and he asked for food. The lady brought the food and when she knelt Aldine to serve him, he shot her in the stomach and she fell and died.”
Oromo cautioned citizens against taking the law into their own hands and asked neighboring communities to arrest the suspect when they saw him.
“If there were issues, he should have called the family members or even community elders to resolve them rather than resorting to killing,” he counseled. “I advise the youth to arrest the boy and he should be taken to court.”
Meanwhile, Naomi Hisiaha Thomas, a SPLM-IO member of the National Legislature who hails from Imehejek, confirmed the incident and described it as a violation of human rights. She urged the government to deploy police personnel in the area to check the escalating murder rate of women.
“Issues of gender-based violence like wife beating and other harmful practices are very common in our area and this is against human rights. No one has the right to claim someone’s life,” she stated. “We do not have police presence in our area to arrest perpetrators when such cases happen and they always refer such issues to Torit. I am appealing for the deployment of police forces in such areas.”
For her part, Elizabeth Ihari, the Secretary General of the Eastern Equatoria State Women’s Association, also condemned the cold-blooded killing and urged the government to apprehend and bring the killer to book.
“To make it worse, the killer is her brother-in-law. If he is arrested, he has to face the law. If the deceased had made a mistake, he should have handled it differently or by the law,” she said. “Killing is allowed and the government must arrest the culprit so that he faces justice.”
According to local authorities, this is the fourth murder related to family disputes they have registered this year. In Lalanga, a son killed his father while a brother shot his sister dead in Iboni, and in Idali, a man was shot dead for committing adultery.