Girlfriend held over death of UPDF soldier
Jinja- A woman has been arrested in connection with the death of a Uganda People’s Defence Forces soldier in a suspected crime of passion.
Warrant Officer II Vincent Mujuni, 40, attached to Gadhafi Barracks in Jinja District, died on yesterday after after his girlfriend alledgedly stabbed him on the chest following a misunderstanding.
The incident, according to police authorities, took place at the girlfriend’s room in Rest Corner Market, Lubaga Village, Kimaka-Mpumudde in Jinja Municipality at around 4am as revellers celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.
The Jinja District Police Commander (DPC), Mr Vincent Irama, yesterday confirmed the arrest and explained that they were investigating the actual cause of the misunderstanding between the two friends.
“Eyewitnesses say by the time the woman came to report to the police, Mr Mujuni was already dead; so she just came to cover up but good enough we have her in our custody to help us in the investigation in murder of a UPDF officer,” the DPC said.
Eyewitness
According to police, eyewitness told authorities that as the deceased struggled to exit the girlfriend’s room, people in the bar saw him holding the chest with blood oozing out of the wound and kept teasing ‘Afande’ to “take heart since he was a soldier. A few minutes later, the deceased fell down and died.
Following the incident, she rushed to Jinja Police Station at about 5am to report the fight and she was immediately taken into custody.
However, when detectives from police arrived at the scene of crime, the soldier was already dead.
In the process of combing the scene of crime, they recovered a blood-stained knife believed to be the murder weapon. No other person was arrested but the suspect remains in the custody.
A police officer who declined to be named, said the soldier was married and the suspect was his girlfriend. However, Daily Monitor could not independently verify this claim.
The Jinja DPC appealed to members of the public to exercise some restraint and find other means of resolving their domestic conflicts other than using knives and other weapons.
The UPDF Jinja Zone spokesperson, Lt Amos Nsamba, said the couple had earlier in the day reportedly been in ‘high spirits’, drinking at a certain secluded bar in Amber court, also in Jinja municipality.
“The person who can shed some light on the misunderstanding or why they fought is dead. I appeal to people to be conscious during this festive season” Lt Nsamba said.
“The police have taken over investigations but once the autopsy has been conducted, the UPDF will seek his body for burial at Bunyangabu District,” he said.
