A teenage girl has committed suicide in Gulu city, northern Uganda following a fight between her mother and father.  

The 14-year-old primary seven-candidate of Bishop Cipriano Kihangire primary school in Kitintale, Kampala hanged herself following a fight between her father, Alfred Oryema and mother, Concy Oroma at their home in Custom Corner in Gulu West Division on Friday morning.

The deceased’s uncle, Tom Mboya says that on the fateful morning, Oryema reportedly returned home drunk and picked up a fight with his wife Oroma and their children including the deceased attempted to intervene. According to Mboya, in a fit of anger, Oroma bought two bottles of crude alcohol and took them all.

She collapsed and lay half-dead behind the house. The 14-year-old girl allegedly thought her mother was dead and rushed back to the house where she tore one of the clothes and used it as a rope to end hang herself.  

Detectives visited the home but were stopped from carrying out a postmortem by the deceased’s family who went ahead and buried the girl’s body. Jimmy Patrick Okema, the Aswa Region police spokesperson has advised families to desist from domestic violence and seek counselling services.

The teenager’s death, brings to 66, the number of documented people who have committed suicide in Acholi sub-region between March and October this year. Ambrose Oola, the prime minister of Acholi chiefdom, says they are overwhelmed by the increasing cases of domestic violence leading to suicide in the region.

He revealed that they register more than 50 cases of domestic violence on daily basis. 

“We are at the last stage of coming up with a bylaw to regulate marriages so that people can once again appreciate marriage and protect their loved ones and families,” Oola said.

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