Man stages burial ceremony of own son

Police in Kyotera District are investigating circumstances under which a man reportedly staged the burial ceremony of his own son.

Detectives on Tuesday arrived at the burial grounds on time and rescued staff of Uganda Funeral Services from being lynched by angry mourners who had converged at Lusaka Village in Kalisizo town council, Kyotera District to pay their last respects to one of the residents’ son.

Ivan Kafeero, 30, had reportedly staged the burial ceremony of his son and had hired the funeral service to manage the ceremony.

How it started
After the requiem mass at about 2pm on Tuesday, mourners who had converged at Kafeero’s ancestral home in Kyotera District asked the funeral service team to open the casket purportedly containing the deceased so that they pay their last respects but they refused on grounds that they were following Kafeero’s orders.

“We came here for a vigil last night but Kafeero has denied us chance to view his son’s body claiming that the stench is too much. We are surprised that the boy died yet we were never told of his illness or heard of involvement in an accident. Why would he insist on not opening the coffin? What is he hiding? What if we bury stones?” Mikidad Ssozi, one of the mourners told residents before they forcefully opened the coffin.

To their surprise, they found a log instead of the boy’s body.
A wreath and a portrait photo that indicated the name of the deceased as Junior Kabugo Elly, his date of birth and when he died had been placed on top of the casket.

Kafeero reportedly slipped through the confused mourners and escaped unhurt.
After failing to trace his whereabouts, mourners turned against the funeral service team and asked them to explain why they had chosen to fool them by burying a log. Police officers who had been called arrived in time and rescued the team from the charged mourners.

The funeral service team, however, later told police that they work on terms and conditions of their clients.
In this case, Kafeero had reportedly asked them to manage the funeral arrangements without opening the casket.
The District Police Commander, Musa Kayongo said they were investigating what prompted Kafeero to stage his son’s burial ceremony and how he managed to escape from the mourners without explanation.

“We have opened a joint inquiry with the Uganda funeral services to find out why this had to happen. It could be that the father sacrificed his son, sold him somewhere or he’s trying to hide his identity for one reason or another by staging his funeral,” Mr Kayongo said.

He lauded residents who took the concern of finding out the truth before the burial.
“It is also possible that he was planning a long term crime,” he added.