senegal: Wedding Night Death Sparks Debate on Domestic Violence

Dieynaba Hamady Sow, 12, died on May 31 from haemorrhaging caused by sexual intercourse on her wedding night after she was forced to marry her 35-year-old cousin. Sow died six days after her marriage to Moussa Coulibaly in Matam, a town 720 kilometres north of the Senegalese capital, Dakar. The only punishment he received was a two-month prison sentence. The case shocked the nation, where women are increasingly becoming victims of domestic violence.