More men than women killed by spouses in domestic violence
What you need to know:
Shy. Police find it hard to help men because they are afraid to report
KAMPALA.
On the night of August 19, stray dogs in a hunt for food landed on a decomposing body of a man slain in Kiryandongo, western Uganda.
They feasted on the body, leaving the remaining bits littered all over the backyard of the rented house where Goodah Arinaitwe lived with her husband.
Arinaitwe’s husband Ben Turyamureeba had been killed and buried in the compound in what was suspected to be domestic violence.
The place was cleaned up and the body parts buried in another ditch. But the suspicious neighbours informed the police.
Police were fast. They arrived and dug up the spot only to find a torso of a human being.
Sniffer dogs led them back to the house. Police dug the backyard.
“We found several bones that appeared to be of a human being. We went to the toilet, broke it and found other parts. Moved to another area and got a severed head,” says Mr Philip Mukasa, the Katonga Region police spokesperson.
Arinaitwe had told the neighbours that her husband had gone for a business trip in Juba, South Sudan in May. She was immediately arrested.
Forensic experts found blood samples suspected to be Turyamureeba’s on the walls of his house, suggesting the deceased had been killed inside the house before the body was chopped into pieces and buried in a shallow grave in the backyard.
This case is among the many incidents of domestic violence where men have perished, according to the police crime registry.
A general look at the overall domestic violence cases reported to police in 2013 shows more women are victims than men.
However, scrutiny into the gravity of domestic violence reveals a rather surprising and intriguing finding. Specifically, in cases of fatal domestic violence, more men are victims.
Police say the number of male victims of domestic violence is much higher but most men don’t report to police for fear of being ridiculed by society as being weak.
The 2013 crime report shows that of the 360 people killed in domestic violence that year, 183 were men compared to 177 women.
Domestic violence ranks among top 10 crimes reported to police, according to the report.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga says most domestic cases where men are killed arise from property wrangles between the spouses and failed relationships.
He says most domestic violence occurs in areas with rampant land wrangles in the northern and western Uganda.
Often, the women plan their missions so well that a detective might not suspect the death was a homicide.
Women sometimes even report a poison or suicide case at police.
At Abenyo village in Dokolo Trading Centre in northern region, a woman called police claiming her husband, Denis Ogwang, had hanged himself. Mr Enanga says when Ogwang’s body was examined, the post-mortem revealed he was strangled before he was hanged.
“Detectives went back to the scene and interrogated neighbours and the widow. Our scene of crime officers discovered the suspect and the deceased had had a wrangle over ownership of land and she also suspected her husband of having an affair with another woman,” Mr Enanga says.
Police arrested the widow.
Domestic violence cases are common during the harvest season between May and August. Police say during the harvest season, many men in rural areas indulge in alcohol drinking which often leads them into extra-marital affairs and fights with their wives at home. In many cases the drunken husband is overpowered and beaten to death.
On August 17, Charles Anyabijoyo, a resident of Nambiso D cell in Buwala Sub-county, Sironko District, fought with his wife Kamuyadi Nabuzaale.
She beat him up and he was rushed to hospital where he died on arrival. Nabuzaale fled into hiding and Mr Enanga said police are still hunting her.
Sometimes killing of husbands is caused by influence from new lovers who ask the women to kill their spouses so that they can freely enjoy their love relationship.
On August 15, Kapesi Byamukama, 35, was found dead in his house at Rwenshama Landing Site in Rukungiri District. Police believe he was killed by his wife assisted by another man, whom she eloped with after the murder.
Mr Enanga says preventing domestic violence against husbands isn’t easy because they don’t report such incidents. “How can you know what is happening in someone’s bedroom?” he said.
Incidents of aggravated domestic violence per region
2013
Aswa region 46 cases
North Kyoga region 41 cases
Rwizi region 36 cases
Rwenzori region 25 cases
East Kyoga region 25 cases
Per district
Ntungamo 19 cases
Kamwenge 19 cases
Kibaale 17 cases
Bushenyi 13 cases
Kole 13 cases
Amuru 11 cases.
