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Man widowed after his goat 'wife' chokes to death
04.05.07
A Sudanese man who married a goat was in mourning today after his wife died
when she swallowed a plastic bag.
Charles Tombe shot to fame last year when he tied the knot with Rose.
A court ordered him to marry the beast "to save her honour" after he was
caught making amorous advances toward the mother-of-one in the middle of the
night.
Mr Tombe and Rose are believed to have lived happily ever after until her
life was cruelly cut short.
The story, which became one of the world's best read tales, began in Juba,
southern Sudan, in February last year when the BBC reported that the then
owner of the goat, Mr Alifi, was awoken in the night by a strange noise.
Walking out of his traditional hut, he was confronted by the sight of Mr
Tombe and Rose in a passionate embrace.
Today the Times reported that Mr Alifi said: 'When I asked him "What are you
doing there?" he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him
up."
When Mr Tombe was brought before a council of elders he claimed he was drunk
when Rose caught his eye.
He was ordered to pay Mr Alifi a "dowry" of 15,000 Sudanese dinars - about
£25 - since he was considered to have used the goat "as his wife."
In the same way a man is expected to marry a woman if he has sex with her in
southern Sudan, Mr Tombe was deemed to have married Rose.
However, despite a happy marriage money was tight and Rose died after
swallowing a plastic bag as she scavenged for food on the streets of Juba.
She is said to have left a male kid - not a boy. It is not yet known whether
she will be cremated or used in a local speciality of goat curry.
Tom Rhodes, a Briton who helped to found the Juba Post which first broke the
story, said townsfolk still congratulate him.
“It shows the Sudanese have a sense of humour,” the Times reported he said.
04.05.07
A Sudanese man who married a goat was in mourning today after his wife died
when she swallowed a plastic bag.
Charles Tombe shot to fame last year when he tied the knot with Rose.
A court ordered him to marry the beast "to save her honour" after he was
caught making amorous advances toward the mother-of-one in the middle of the
night.
Mr Tombe and Rose are believed to have lived happily ever after until her
life was cruelly cut short.
The story, which became one of the world's best read tales, began in Juba,
southern Sudan, in February last year when the BBC reported that the then
owner of the goat, Mr Alifi, was awoken in the night by a strange noise.
Walking out of his traditional hut, he was confronted by the sight of Mr
Tombe and Rose in a passionate embrace.
Today the Times reported that Mr Alifi said: 'When I asked him "What are you
doing there?" he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him
up."
When Mr Tombe was brought before a council of elders he claimed he was drunk
when Rose caught his eye.
He was ordered to pay Mr Alifi a "dowry" of 15,000 Sudanese dinars - about
£25 - since he was considered to have used the goat "as his wife."
In the same way a man is expected to marry a woman if he has sex with her in
southern Sudan, Mr Tombe was deemed to have married Rose.
However, despite a happy marriage money was tight and Rose died after
swallowing a plastic bag as she scavenged for food on the streets of Juba.
She is said to have left a male kid - not a boy. It is not yet known whether
she will be cremated or used in a local speciality of goat curry.
Tom Rhodes, a Briton who helped to found the Juba Post which first broke the
story, said townsfolk still congratulate him.
“It shows the Sudanese have a sense of humour,” the Times reported he said.