4 women stripped, killed in city suburb

Kampala.

Fear has gripped residents of Kibulooka and Masitoowa zones in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District, after four bodies of women, all in their 20s, were recovered in the area in a space of only three days.

Two of the bodies were found stripped naked in Kibulooka on Monday morning and two days later, two other bodies were discovered dumped in a garden in Masitoowa. Nanasana Municipality lies on the outskirts of Kampala City.

Mr Emilian Kayima, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, said all the bodies were found with bruises, creating fear that the women might have been sexually abused before they were killed.

“There were signs that the deceased tried to fight for their life. All the bodies had no underwear and we suspects they were first raped before they were strangled,” Mr Kayima said.

Of the four bodies, the police managed to identify only one as that of Juliet Nampijja, a resident of Namungona in Rubaga Division, Kampala. Nampijja had two children from different fathers.

The police was by press time yet to identify the other three people since their bodies bore no identification documents. Mr Kayima said police had contacted one of the fathers of Nampijja’s children, who had provided some good clues.

So far, five suspects, including a woman, have been arrested in connection with the killings and are being detained at Wakiso Division Police headquarters.
The suspects include Nampijja’s close female friend and four other men.

“For the case of Nampijja, we summoned and interrogated her friend to establish whether she knows anything regarding her death since they were last seen together,” Mr Kayima said.

The police, who recovered used condoms and sticks of marijuana drugs at the two scenes of crime, said the four are suspected to have been lured to their deaths by colleagues.

“The used condoms recovered at the two crime scenes show the victims were sexually abused before they were killed. Two of the victims are suspected to have been strangled, while the others seemed to have been suffocated,” Mr Kayima said. The police attributed the crime to increased alcohol and drug abuse in Nansana.

Mr Kayima challenged residents to step up neighbourhood watch since police cannot man all the corridors of the highly populated area.
Last month, police arrested 15 men suspected to have been waylaying Nansana residents and robbing them, especially in taxis.