By Milly Bayi Nyuga
A 45-year-old man in Western Equatoria committed suicide on 15th May 2022, which was Sunday after he assumed that he had killed his wife following a fight he had with her after they had had a drinking spree.
Batista Simon, the deceased got hyped up by the argument with his wife, Marcelina John leading to him beating her vigorously and fracturing her arm.
The frightened woman ran into the bush in pain and the angry man followed a few minutes later but after searching for her in vain in the darkness, he came back into the house frustrated and thinking that he had actually killed her.
According to Albino Utho Mariano, the Police Commissioner, the man’s frustration caused him to make the grave decision.
“He ran outside to chase after her but after not finding her, he felt frustrated thinking that he had killed her, he cocked his private gun which he had and shot himself” he said.
“We don’t know where he got a gun from but some civilians have guns. You know it is South Sudan, everyone has a private gun” Albino added.
He however stated that the incident was not reported until yesterday, after two days had passed.
“Nobody reported this incident until today (yesterday) when the CID found the body when they were doing their rounds. The body had already decomposed after two days had passed” Albino said.
The Police Commissioner said that they immediately sent a car to the area after receiving the information from the CID to retrieve the already decomposed body. He added that the area is about 45 metres away from Bazunguwa.
Albino also mentioned the health condition of the deceased’s wife, two days after the incident.
“The woman is now getting treatment in Bazunguwa. The man’s corpse could not be taken to the mortuary. He was a civilian and the gun is now in Police custody and investigation is going to be done soon”.
Albino also shared his recommendations to the issue of violence, crimes and deaths that have been caused by the citizens having guns in the community.
“The chiefs in the areas of Western Equatoria should mobilize (through the Commissioner) and tell how many guns the civilians have in the area. The guns should be registered to the security, this will be a way of protecting the people” he advised.
“When the chief knows the number of guns in the area, then the Commissioner will have some order to collect these guns from the security. Without the chiefs, the Commissioner will not know the number of guns owned by civilians. I think it is better and easier than going around and disarming while we do not know who has a gun and who does not” Albino stated.
Albino assured that the security in Western Equatoria is good and his team is trying to control the crimes although they still face a few challenges but for civilians to have guns, they should possess supportive documents to explain their reason for having one.
He also said that the main causes of the suicide issues in the state is fights and disagreements between couples that arise after drinking a lot of alcohol.
“We have not registered many suicide cases; they are just a few isolated cases. We have registered two before this one and this one is now the third” he gave a report about the cases of suicide in the state.