A 40-year-old man has committed suicide by ingesting a yet to be known substance in Amuru District.
The deceased has been identified as Apollo Thomas Okeny, a resident of Bibia West Village in Elegu Town Council, Amuru District.
It is reported that Okeny picked up a quarrel with his wife, Rose Gale, 43, before swallowing the toxic substance.
Gale alerted the police and Okeny was rushed and admitted to Bibia Health Centre 3 in critical condition where he later died.
Mr Jimmy Patrick Okema, the Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson, confirmed the incident adding that police have since arrested the deceased’s wife to help in their investigations while the body has been taken to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital for postmortem.
Studies indicate that alcohol is a major factor in nearly 68 percent of the suicide cases in northern Uganda, followed by drug abuse, mental illness, depression or stress, domestic violence, effects of war and illnesses such as HIV and cancer.
Elders in Acholi sub region attribute the high cases of suicide in the former war-ravaged region to the ghostly vengeance due to the mass killings during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels led insurgency. But psychiatrists link them to post war traumatic stress.
Police’s latest figures show that more than 160 people have committed suicide in Acholi sub region since last October.
