Woman batters husband over bride price

ARUA. A 30-year-old man on Sunday survived being killed by his wife who accused him of delay to pay bride price.
Mr Juma Candia, was allegedly hit by his wife Beatrice Ajio, 34, on the head with empty bottles and later stabbed with a knife in the right hand.
The couple lives in Olumini village in Pajulu Sub-county, Arua District.
Mr Candia told Daily Monitor on Monday that: “My wife, with whom I have lived for two years, was not happy that I was delaying to pay bride price. But I kept on explaining that I did not have enough money.”
According to the neighbours, Mr Candia remained unconscious for some hours, provoking thoughts that he could have died.
Police are now hunting for the suspect who is on the run. In the Lugbara culture, bride price plans are a “privilege” reserved for maternal uncles and relatives of the girl.
The amount paid depends on the availability of the resources at hand and the educational level of the woman and the cows given normally range from three to 15 depending on the economic position of the man.
Cases of violence against men by their wives are under-reported but are on the rise although men feel uncomfortable to report them to the police, according to police records.
One of the relatives of the woman who only identified himself as Martin declined to comment on the matter saying it was a family matter to be handled by his elders but condemned the violent act by his sister.
“Usually, it is the elders to speak about payment of bride price that is done on mutual consent. This should have been an act done without consent of the elders. If there were misunderstandings, the elders should have been involved,” he said.
Speaking at Odramacaku Trading Centre in Arua, Mr Sam Mwandara, the project coordinator of Reproductive Health Uganda, said the districts of Arua, Bushenyi and Kapchorwa had the highest cases of gender-based violence in the country.
Ms Judith Drate, the Arua Municipality principal community development officer, said “the statistics of gender-based violence or violence against men would be higher if the cases were reported but the victims prefer to settle them in communities.” Ms Josephine Angucia, the West Nile region police spokesperson, encouraged more men who were being battered by their spouses to come up and report.
“The Domestic Violence Act covers both the victim and the perpetrators. We rarely get cases of men reporting their spouses who batter them but we encourage the men to report such violence because silence on the side of the men tends to kill them the more,” Ms Angucia said.
According to the UN, the majority of the world’s 1.3 billion absolute poor are women explaining the level of economic violence experienced by women.
Women also continue to be victims of other forms of gender-based violence, with rape and domestic violence listed as significant causes of disability and death among women worldwide.

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