Woman charged with murder of step son committed to high court

KAMPALA. Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has committed to High Court in Kampala a 28-year-old woman for allegedly murdering her step son.
Court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Ms Pamela Ocaya heard that Ms Hafiswa Nantongo committed the offence when she entrusted her daughter with some herbs and told her to lace the deceased Alvine Bwambale’s food.
According to the indictment, on June 6, 2013 the deceased suddenly fell sick before his parents sought medical treatment from different medical facilities. However, he failed to respond and before he died he was vomiting continuously.
“On June 9, 2013, the deceased’s body was buried in Luwero district .The parents suspected the cause of death to be poison because of the surrounding circumstances,” the indictment reads in part.

It further contends that: “… on June 10, 2013 a step sister to the deceased told their father Mr Francisco Bwambale and chairperson of the area that she was given some substances by her biological mother ( Nantongo) to mix in the deceased’s food before he eats and she complied with the instructions.”
Court documents show that the vomits collected from the deceased before he died were submitted to the Government Analytical Laboratory for analysis. The results indicated that they contained a poisonous substance that was responsible for the death of Alvine.

Consequently, Ms Nantongo was arrested and a charge of murder was preferred against her. Upon interrogation she denied the charge after which she was examined and found to be of sound mind.
Police records also show that on February 5, this year the body of the deceased was exhumed and a postmortem examination was carried out.
Magistrate Ocaya held that the prosecution shall among others tender in evidence in respect to the offence and shall contend that the suspect will have no valid defence whatsoever and the state will pray that she is convicted as indicted.

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