PADER – A 24-year-old man is on the run after allegedly stabbing his step mother to death and injuring his grandmother in Pader District.
Geoffrey Opira, a resident of Ladyang-atar Village, Pajule Sub-county, is said to have stabbed the step mother Christine Aciro four times before cutting off her private parts on Wednesday.
It is alleged that the suspect on several occasions has been stealing properties from the village mates and the step mother kept on telling him to desist from the vice.
Opira’s grandmother, Duculina Acen, 58, has also been admitted at Kitgum Hospital where she is nursing injuries.
The LCIII chairperson, Tito Okello Brilliant, confirmed the incident and he condemned the act, adding that days are gone where home affairs are handled through violence.
“We always tell couples to always seek redress in case there is a problem in their homes,’’ he said.
He said the suspect Opira has a record of taking for Marijuana and theft.
The District Police Commander, Mr Tom Bainomugisha, confirmed the incident and said they are hunting for the attacker.
The district has some of the highest incidents of domestic violence involving children, adults and couples. Dan Kumakech, the news editor of Radio Palwak, a community radio station in Pader, says literally each week there is a report of one form of domestic violence or another. He says that the recent victim of the domestic violence is a mother of five, who was killed by her husband over one thousand shillings.
Recently, Pader District council passed an ordinance and it is awaiting approval by government.
The ordinance and an accompanying policy is the outcome of a joint research by the Pader NGO Forum and Makerere University. George Odong-Otto, coordinator Pader NGO Forum says cases of domestic violence are common that they need an ordinance to be expedited to help alleviate the situation.
