Mukono headmistress linked to husband’s death

A headmistress of a school in Mukono District is accused by the relatives of her deceased husband of having a hand in his death and police in the area has been put in the spotlight for failing to have the accused charged in court.
Godwin Sebakigye, 55, died under unclear circumstances in mid-2016 at their house in Mukono and was buried, but his relatives applied for his exhumation and a postmortem was done. It indicated that he had been killed.
Ms Milly Kikomeko, the headmistress of Hidden Treasure Primary School in Nabusugwe, Mukono District, is being accused of committing the offence.

Initially, Ms Kikomeko had told relatives and friends that Sebakigye died of injuries he had sustained in a motor accident, contrary to the postmortem report by two pathologists.
“The RSA [Resident State Attorney] wanted me to clarify on the cause of death [of Sebakigye]. We found that there were bruises in the neck muscles which were not on any other part of the body. So the most probable cause of death was strangulation,” Dr Sylvester Onzivua, a consultant pathologist at Mulago hospital, told Sunday Monitor.
Dr Onzivua carried out the postmortem together with Dr Thaddeus Barungi.
Members of Sebakigye’s extended family, including his children Godfrey Lule and Regina Nalebe, are demanding that police arrest their step mother

Sebakigye, formerly a renowned builder who specialised in roofing, died on July 26, 2016 and was buried in Nabusugwe village, Goma Division.
“I received a call from the wife telling me, “omugagga asambye baketi” [the rich man has kicked the bucket],” Immaculate Nakimenya, one of Sebakigye’s nieces, recalls.

Doubting the cause of his death, Sebakigye’s elder children from his first wife, applied to the High Court in Mukono for an exhumation to carry out a postmortem on their father’s body.
After the examinations, the body was released to members of his extended family, amid protests by Ms Kikomeko, and Sebakigye was reburied in Tororo.

According to the pathologists, whereas the deceased had been involved in a motor accident, they found no connection between his cause of death and the injuries he had sustained earlier.
However, Sebakigye’s children and relatives, who include Christine Nakatudde, Aloysius Kiwanuka, Evelyn Kisuule, Barnabas Sekaawu and Immaculate Nakimenya, accuse the police of failing to comply with a High Court directive issued after the postmortem report, to have Ms Kikomeko arrested and charged with murder.

Police had arrested Ms Kikomeko shortly after the directive had been issued but a few days later released her on bail.
When contacted by telephone, Ms Kikomeko accused, her step-children and the deceased extended family, of using murder allegations against her to grab their family land.

Although she declined to discuss the accusations in detail she confirmed that she was out on police bond.
When asked to established why no action had been taken in such a high profile case, Mr Rogers Seguya, the Mukono District Police Commander, denied knowledge of the case.

“I do not know about that case. I had not assumed that office when the incident took place. Maybe speak to the officer in-charge of the criminal investigations department,” Mr Seguya said.
Mr Ibrah Batasi, the OC CID for Mukono Police Station, also denied knowledge of the case.

“You know we are not allowed to speak to the media except through our public relations officers,” he said.
Mr Luke Owoyesigire, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, said he needed more time to establish why police had not arrested Kikomeko after court had charged with murder.

BACKGROUND
Godwin Sebakigye, 55, died under unclear circumstances in July 2016
His wife reported Sebakigye had succumbed to multiple injuries he suffered during an accident.
Upon not being satisfied with the cause of his death, Sebakigye’s two children and his extended family members applied to have his body exhumed and re-examined.

According to the postmortem report from the two pathologists, the deceased died of strangling and not injuries as earlier claimed by his wife.
His wife, however, alleges that the children want to grab the family land.