Tortured Ntungamo maid dies at Mulago

The casket containing the remains of Babra Twikirize at her home in Ntungamo Municipality on Thursday. PHOTO BY PEREZ RUMANZI

What you need to know:

Demanded wages. The late Twikirize sustained severe injuries after she was beaten and burnt by her former employers from whom she had gone to demand her wages.

Ntungamo.
A housemaid who was tortured after demanding her wages in February succumbed to the injuries at Mulago hospital where she had been referred for advanced treatment.

Babra Twikirize died on Wednesday.
She was allegedly beaten and burnt by her former employers when she demanded Shs150,000 as wages for her three-month labour at their home in Kabagyenda cell, Kikoni ward in Ntungamo municipality.
Twikirize was b

uried at her home in Omurubaare cell in the same municipality on Thursday.

Two people accused of torturing her have been rearrested following the intervention of First Lady, Ms Janet Museveni, who also paid the deceased’s hospital and burial expenses.
Police say Twikirize had been dismissed from work but returned to demand her wage arrears.

When she arrived at the home of her employer, she was reportedly tied down by five people, including her former co-workers, who burnt her with paraffin and molten plastic jerrycans until police rescued her after a tip-off from her friend who had accompanied her.
The friend, Ms Jovia Kyorurete, informed the local council chairperson who alerted police. Police rushed Twikirize to Itojo Hospital where she spent a month before being transferred to Mulago hospital after intervention form the First Lady.

Ntungamo district police commander Baker Kawonawo said the suspects have been rearrested.

Another suspect, who works with RCC, a construction firm working on the Ntungamo–Kabale road, and two others are on the run.
“We have rearrested the suspects who had been given bail and amended the charges to murder. We tried to arrest the other one but she ran away and we are pursuing her with others also formerly on the run,” Mr Kawonawo told Saturday Monitor.
Speaking at the burial, the Mayor Mr Jacob Kafureka said the killers deserve a harsh punishment.

“I worked as a houseboy for nine years. Did it stop me from becoming what I am? Those who did this have no soul, they should be handled with a firm hand as a lesson to whoever mistreats others. This is inhuman. Government must do its job,” he told mourners.

Similar case
Cases of abusing maids are not new. Last year in Gulu, a 27-year-old man was admitted to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, after a maid burnt his private parts as he allegedly attempted to rape her. It was alleged that the maid poured hot water on his private parts as he attempted to overpower her in the kitchen.