Scars of domestic violence torment 28-year-old mother in Nwoya

Nwoya, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | A 28-year-old woman in Nwoya District is tormented by scars of the agony arising from a decade of brutality meted on her by her partner.

Alice Adokorach, a mother of five who left her parents’ home at a tender age says her relationship has deprived her of happiness, by a partner who was addicted to his beer and to the rod. She endured punches and beatings, almost on a daily basis, scars of which remain visible on her body today.

She told URN in an interview from her home at Patira parish in Purongo Sub-County that her husband, Morris Opira inflicted unimaginable pain on her. In his latest sequence of violence, Adokorach disclosed that Opira fought and bit her third digit after she failed to give him money for upkeep.

Adokorach says she fears reporting the matter to higher authorities because this could put her life in danger. But she says she has sought medication and counselling services from an elderly woman, Florence Alaroker, a paralegal in the area trained by Action Aid Uganda, a not for profit organization that builds the capacity of rural women.

Alaroker said the training skills she acquired in mediating on land conflict, child protection and other domestic-related fights have enabled her to counsel many couples entangled in domestic fracas.

Alaroker encouraged women facing intimate partner violence which impacts negatively on health, economic and development outcomes especially in post-conflict Acholi sub region to always speak out and come out of such painful experiences. 

Jimmy Patrick Okema, the Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson says cases of domestic violence in Acholi sub-region are on the increase this year compared to the previous years. Between March to date, a total of over 1,230 cases of domestic violence were reported to police in the eight districts of Acholi sub-region.

These cases within the past eight months have surpassed the cases recorded in the region in 2019, according to the Police Annual Crime Report of 2019. At least 1,131 cases of domestic violence were recorded according to the police annual crime report for the region.

According to Okema, only 191 out of the reported cases domestic-related violence were fully investigated by the police and the perpetrators taken to court. Of the investigated cases in which men are the leading perpetrators, he said only seven were successfully convicted and sentenced. 

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URN