Picture of a Pit Latrine - COURTESY

A 47-year-old man who was allegedly forced by Longechuk County Commissioner to extract a mobile phone from a pit latrine has passed away in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, his family has confirmed.

The late, James Guek, a former ICRC security guard was allegedly ordered by Commissioner Dak Tut Dey to search for a phone that slipped from his hand into a pit latrine last year, January 2022.

Dr. Tut Chol, a brother to the victim said after the incident, his brother developed a severe skin disease and later started losing sight.

“He [the late] was having severe skin rashes, that is why ICRC was responding for him to come to Juba and get treated. He was taken to one of the medical centres in Juba but the situation was changing to other body parts and he started losing his sight,” Tut narrated.

He says his brother died on April 11, 2023, in Khartoum where he had travelled for a medical checkup.

He added that the medical report from a hospital in Khartoum indicated that the acid in the human wastes that the late inhaled when he was in the latrine caused health complications.

“The medical report we received from Khartoum says the poison that was observed when the man was going three meters in the deep latrines caused the health complication.”

“We urge the leadership of the area to bring the commissioner who ordered the security agents. We are calling for the commissioner to come and face the court”.

According to a Medical report seen by Eye Radio, the deceased died of respiratory failure due to a brain tumour.

A member of the national parliament representing Longechuk Constituency James Mat Ruon expressed outrage at what he termed as disturbing and an abuse of human moralities.

He says that the commissioner’s bodyguards forced late Guek into a filthy pit latrine to search for the phone.

The incident happened when Longechuk County Commissioner, Dak Tut Dey visited Udier Payam on January 2022, to meet the locals.

While in a meeting, the Commissioner’s phone battery ran out of power.

He then allegedly asked a local NGO worker, the Late John Guek a former staff of ICRC to take it for charging.

But there was no charging space at the only existing centre in the area.

Late Guek then decided to keep the phone, which later slipped off his pocket into a pit latrine.

The commissioner then forced him to get inside the pit latrine and remove the phone, which did.

But when contacted by Eye Radio the commissioner of Longechuk County, Dak Tut Dey refuted the allegations that he forced the late Guek to search for a lost phone inside a pit latrine.