Victim of local market assault passes away

A 41-year-old man injured early march in an assault at the local market in Malé passed away on Wednesday afternoon.

The assault victim died while undergoing treatment at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital.

An IGMH media official previously told The Maldives Independent that the victim was hospitalised in critical condition with serious head and back injuries. His lungs were filled with water.

The media official said he has been unconscious for two days and was breathing through a ventilator.

The police had arrested two men aged 31 and 36 in connection with the assault.

Local media previously reported that the 41-year-old was assaulted and thrown into the sea after he was caught trying to steal from a market stall.

According to the police, the man sustained injuries when he “fell or tried to jump” into the water during the fight.

The 41-year-old’s death is the fourth from violent crime in 2016.

Earlier this month, a young man found unconscious with injuries near IGMH died while undergoing treatment.

Hawwa Zuha, 23, was murdered and left on a narrow lane in Malé in early January. On March 2, a 47-year-old businessman was found dead in a taro field in the southern Addu City.

Suspects have been arrested in both cases.

Some 32 people have lost their lives to violent crime in the Maldives since 2010. At least eight were killed in 2015.