May 5, 2007
Goat Dies, Husband Mourns
Charles Tombe, who was forced to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars to the owner of a goat he had sex with and “marry” the animal, is now a widower.
In February 2006, elders in the South Sudan capital Juba forced a man to ‘marry’ a goat as punishment for having sex with the animal while he was drunk. The village elders named the goat Rose, “The idea was to publicly embarrass the man,” said Tom Rhodes, Juba Post editor. Tombe has never commented on the incident.
Rose was something of a celebrity – being the subject of one of the BBC’s most infamous online stories. In South Sudan, a man caught sleeping with a girl would be ordered to marry her immediately to avoid damaging her reputation or the honor of her family. In this case, the South Sudanese elders showed their sense of humor – and Mr Tombe took his goat-bride back to his home in the suburbs.
It seems Rose died after choking on a plastic bag she swallowed during her daily graze around the streets of Juba.
Rose is survived by her husband and one kid - not a human one, mind you.
Five Alarm Firing
Employees a historic UK department store responded to what they assumed was a routine a fire alarm – and wound up getting fired.
Managers at Robbs, a department store in Hexam that’s been open since 1818, claimed using the fire alarm was the most effective way to get all 140 members of staff to gather in one place. Once the staff were assembled, bosses informed them that the shop would be shutting in two weeks.
Robbs is slated to close it’s doors for good on May 12, unless a buyer comes forward. But this is no excuse for the callous nature of handing down the news, say employees. “The way we’ve been treated is appalling,” one worker told the BBC, “And to find out in such a way has infuriated a lot of people.”
Administrators claimed the Robbs management team wanted to inform staff quickly, before news of the shop’s looming closure became public knowledge at the end of the trading day.
Robbs is presently owned by Liverpool-based Owen Owen, who have faced cash flow problems since earlier this spring.
