Widow held over assaulting  priest at burial of husband

Police in Ntungamo District on Friday arrested a woman and three others for allegedly assaulting a priest during funeral prayers for the head of the family.

The family had invited Rev Nathan Nkuranga to their ancestral home in Kishami Parish, Ruhaama East Sub-county, to lead the prayers ahead of the burial of Brazio Biryomumaisho.
Amid rumours and complaints from the mourners and some family members that the late died an unhappy man and that he had been starved to death, the priest in his homily reportedly preached against mistreatment of spouses.

But this infuriated the widow, Ms Christine Mbabazi, who attempted to hit him with a stick. 
Four other family members tried to prevail over the situation and the priest was forced to abandon the service.
But in an interview with Daily Monitor, Rev Nkuranga said he was preaching in general and not necessarily referring to the widow.

“I only said it was only a foolish woman who mistreats her husband, with whom they’ve had children to the extent of starving him. I also said domestic violence is on the rise where women and their sons mistreat the elderly so that they can share property after they have died,” he said. Mr Moses Bagambe, the elder brother, had earlier told mourners that the deceased had been mistreated, denied food, beaten and at times chased out of the house by his wife and three sons who were demanding to divide the family land.  

“We managed to take him to hospital with the intervention of the village chairperson, and when we reached him there, no one followed him. On the day his wife came to the hospital, he died. This caused suspicion from the family and to stop the suspicion and conflict, the reverend advised us that before burial, there must be a post-mortem done,” Mr Bagambe said.
The priest said he also ordered for a post-mortem to allay mourners’ fears.

“I ordered that a post-mortem must be first done and we establish the real cause of the man’s death given the behaviour she showed,” Rev Nkuranga said.
He said before the widow could hit him with a stick, he held it firmly and called police to intervene.