Man cuts pregnant wife and daughter to death

What you need to know:

  • Reason. This was after he suspected his wife to have infected him with HIV.

NWOYA.

It sounds unreal. The year-long secretiveness about something so abominable in a networked community strings movie-like aura.
A young man in the northern Nwoya District said he, in January 2017, hacked his wife with a machete for allegedly infecting him with HIV.
He also took the life of his daughter, claiming it was no longer purposeful to live with children when waiting to die.
The 25-year-old suspect reportedly told investigators that he interred the bodies of the duo in a back garden. No neighbour detected anything ominous.
It took Ms Hellen Abur, the suspect’s mother-in-law, who, after failing to get satisfactory explanation on the whereabouts of her daughter, lodged a complaint at police.
Ms Abur lives in Amuru district, some 70 to 80 kilometres away, and she had suspiciously received no word from her daughter in a year.
It has been 19 months since the macabre incident. The self-confessing suspect, a resident of Abonga dyang in Lungulu Sub-county, has now turned himself in to police to the consternation of all and indignation of relatives of the deceased.
The victims are 20-year-old Grace Auma, the wife, and their daughter piously named Angel.
The Nwoya District Chairperson, Mr Patrick Oryema, told this newspaper on Tuesday that: “The suspect’s mother-in-law had not seen or heard from her daughter for a while. When she took efforts to reach her [by] telephone, her number wasn’t available. She then called the deceased’s husband, but his explanation didn’t add up.”

Arrest of the suspect
That is when she last week reported the matter to police, prompting them to arrest the suspect.
“This is a murder that has baffled us the local leaders; it has gone unnoticed for a year. We condemn this act within this community. Getting infected with HIV shouldn’t drive someone to kill because Aids can be treated,” Mr Oryema said.
Mr Rashid Doka, the Nwoya district police commander, said they took the suspect into custody on September 6.
“We are making arrangements to get orders from court to permit us to exhume the bodies and subject them to postmortem and ascertain the exact cause of their deaths,” he said.
Police have preferred murder charges against the suspect. Killings are on the rise in Nwoya district, according to officials.
Last month, a man in Lotuk village, Koch Goma Sub-county, killed his wife before committing suicide.
A total of 25 people last year committed suicide in Nwoya district prompting religious leaders to hold a prayer to cleanse the area.