Police’s account on the murder of Adjumani’s CAO
What you need to know:
Earlier this month, the body of Lillian Tadusia, Adjumani District’s assistant Chief Administrative Officer was discovered in her home. Her husband later confessed to the murder and was charged. Julius Ocungi compiled the police’s account from the time her body was discovered to the time her husband was charged
On Sunday, March 8, residents of Layibi Division in Gulu Municipality discovered a decomposing body of a woman locked in her rented house.
Her neighbours had not seen or heard from the 36- year- old for two days. She had last been sighted on March 6 in the company of her husband.
When a strange, foul odour filled the air around her rented house, and neighbours noticed houseflies hovering around her doors, their curiosity was peaked.
Ochan Benson, one of the neighbours, curiously peeked through the window and noticed her lifeless body on the floor, drenched in clotted blood.
Ochan then informed the landlord who later opened the door using a spare key. Police were later informed on the matter.
Police swung in at the crime scene and took the deceased lifeless body to 4th Division UPDF Headquarters mortuary in Gulu town.
A postmortem test was carried out and the results indicated that the deceased was stabbed using a knife beneath her breast, bled out and died .
The Police later identified the deceased as Lillian Tadusia, the assistant Chief Administrative officer (CAO) Adjumani District.
The deceased had been a Sub-county chief before being appointed an acting assistant CAO a position she had held for only one year.
Her death not only ended Tadusia’s career, but also a sixteen-year-old marriage revered by several locals in Adjumani town council.
Police investigation
Soon after the results of the postmortem tests, that pointed the deceased was stabbed using a knife , the Police took up the matter for further investigations.
The deceased’s husband, Dr Emmanuel Zole, 40, a veterinary doctor who was working in Pader District was implicated in Tadusia’s murder.
Police said it was because the deceased was last seen in his company, on the night of her demise.
“From day one, on Sunday, when we kicked off with the investigations into the matter, we suspected the husband to have been behind this heinous murder of Tadusia, our officers tried calling his phone number but it was off.
When we tried calling the number on Monday, it went through, but was not answered and at that moment, we knew his husband was evading something so we opted for a manhunt for him,” Martin Okoyo, Gulu’s district police said.
At this point, intelligence police were dispatched. On Monday, March 9, intelligence came through indicating that the Dr Zole had crossed into Pader District.
Police in the district were alerted, but the suspect had slipped through their hands to yet another unknown location.
Another intelligence wire came to the Police, according to Okoyo, that Dr Zole had been sighted in Adjumani District on Tuesday, March 10.
“We alerted the Police in Adjumani district of the new report and they were ready for action. The suspect at that point had no option; he was cornered and was arrested from his hideout,” Okoyo says.
He was briefly detained at Adjumani Police post before he was transferred to Gulu District on Wednesday March 11, where he is suspected to have committed the crime from.
“We detained him at Gulu Central Police Station where we immediately began interrogating him,” adds Okoyo.
The interrogation
According to Okoyo, the suspect was first interrogated by the homicide police department at Gulu Central Police Station. He was restless, acting weird and was sweating profusely.
“Our the first day of interrogation, the suspect denied having any hand in the murder of his wife. He also said that he had not been in the district for two weeks and was saddened by the news of his wife’s death,” the DPC said.
On the second day of the interrogation, according to Okoyo, the suspect who was still acting nervous, and in tears later confessed to killing her wife.
In a statement to the Police, the suspect told the detectives that he had stabbed his wife with a kitchen knife over allegations of extramarital affairs—he suspected that his wife was cheating on him with another man.
According to his statement, the suspect said he had previously warned his wife and the man to stop their affair, but they did not heed his warnings.
So what fueled the stabbing?
In his confession to the Police, Dr Zole revealed that on the fateful Friday evening at their rented home, he opened his wife’s laptop and checked her email. He found romantic emails his wife had exchanged with the alleged lover.
He was furious and demanded an explanation from his wife but the issue later turned violent.
He narrated that during the heated argument with his wife, the deceased hurried for a kitchen knife which she was using in self defence, but he overpowered her and got the knife from her, which he later used to stab her beneath her breast in anger.
The Police said, Dr Zole fled and locked the deceased in the house after realising she was dead. Police add that he kept around in Gulu Town on Saturday with the intention of going back and removing the body from the house.
The suspect, according to his statement to the investigative Police officers, later said he never meant to kill her but acted in anger. He also apologised for the unfortunate murder of the mother of his four children.
Police revisits the scene of crime
On the third day of interrogation, the Police revisited the crime scene, the house the couple rented in Layibi division in Gulu Municipality for more evidence.
Dr Zole’s blood-stained shirt and trousers, which the Police suspect he was putting on the fateful night of the murder, was found hidden in the house.
Okoyo told Daily Monitor that the exhibits retrieved from the rented house of the suspect were sent to the Government’s Analytical Laboratory for forensic testing to prove whether the blood stains on the shirt match the suspect’s.
“We already have incriminating evidence following interrogations by the Homicide Police department. We have arraigned all the files and it has been sanctioned by the resident state attorney but we are still waiting for the results from the government laboratory for proof,” Okoyo said.
Charged with murder
Clad in a black striped t-shirt and green khaki trousers, Dr Zole on March 13 appeared at the Grade One magistrate Court before magistrate Paul Owino, where charges of murder were read against him.
Owino adjourned Dr Zole’s case until March 30, when he will be expected to reappear t for further mentioning of the case.
Dr Zole was not allowed to enter any plea, since his case was capital in nature and was beyond jurisdiction of the lower court.
He has since been remanded at Gulu Central Prison until the set date when court will hear his case.
Statistics of crime in the region
According to 2013, Police crime reports, a total of 93 cases of murder were reported to the Police, three of the murder cases were through shooting using guns.
Tit bits
The deceased was a student at the Uganda Management Institute Gulu Branch, where she was pursuing a postgraduate degree.
She is survived by four children
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