In a heartbreaking incident, a 71-year-old woman in northern Uganda took her own life following a long-running land dispute with her son, local authorities, and her family said.
The resident of Atilem Cell in Kole District, Mary Adongo, was found hanging inside her home early Sunday morning, hours after reportedly expressing frustration over the unresolved conflict.
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Her family had been embroiled in a dispute over a two-acre piece of land, with Adongo accusing her son, David Taki, of encroaching on her property.
Elders from the Arak Ongoda sub-clan had convened a meeting last week and recommended that a live fence of Jatropha trees be planted to demarcate the contested land.
On Saturday evening, Adongo reportedly asked another son, Jimmy Odongo, if Taki had followed through with the agreement.
When told he had not, she appeared upset but did not voice any immediate distress, according to relatives.
“She was in good spirits throughout the evening and even sent Jimmy to buy beans for supper,” said Denis Okodi, a close family member. “She complained about pain in one eye, but there was no indication she was contemplating suicide.”
Adongo’s daughter, Betty Atino, went to wake her for Sunday prayers but discovered her body hanging in a dark room inside the house.
“She was dressed smartly in a gomesi, as if she was preparing for church,” Atino said.
The Arak Ongoda sub-clan chief, Vincent Okello Igel, who was among the first to arrive at the scene, said a small table beneath the body suggested Adongo had climbed it before taking her life.
Police visited the scene and later handed over the body to the family for burial.
According to the country’s 2024 police crime report, suicide rates increased by 26%, with 218 cases recorded in the year compared to 165 in 2023.
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