Family members demand perpetrator in murder of young Sittwe woman be punished publicly

By DMG 01 Sep 2022

DMG Newsroom
1 September 2022, Sittwe

The family of a young woman who was stabbed to death last month near the government offices in Sittwe, Arakan State, has demanded that the perpetrator be punished publicly.

A family member of the victim told DMG that they want the perpetrator to be identified in the interest of public disclosure.

“Our family is also broken and we feel like our lives have been destroyed as she was brutally murdered. I would like to request that the perpetrator of the murder be punished in front of the public,” the family member added.

The 18-year-old victim was found dead by family members, with two stab wounds to her neck, in a shop near the government offices on August 15.

The United League of Arakan (ULA), the political wing of the Arakan Army (AA), announced on August 31 that the perpetrator in the case of a young woman who was stabbed to death had been identified.

Ma Saw Mra Thandar, secretary of the Rakhine Women’s Network, said the ULA’s statement did not specifically describe the perpetrator, leading to public dissatisfaction.

“I want only the perpetrator to be punished for this young woman’s death. I don’t want an innocent person to be punished. I want only the perpetrator to be punished,” she said.

U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the Arakan Army, said the person who killed the young woman in Sittwe admitted that he had committed the crime.

“The perpetrator confessed that he killed the young woman and we will reveal the name of the perpetrator publicly,” he said, adding that the alleged killer’s name had not yet been disclosed “because our investigation into the death of the young woman is underway.”

Some family members suspect that the perpetrator was not alone in the commission of the crime, and that there were in fact co-conspirators.

U Khaing Thukha said his organisation continues to investigate whether that might have been that case.