My son is not mentally disturbed - Mother to Mabirizi Complex survivor

A man who at the weekend jumped off Mabirizi Complex, a storey-building in the city centre, has spoken out for the first time, saying he never intended to commit suicide.

Basing on police information, we wrongly reported on Wednesday that 17-year-old Mustapha Lule, a resident of Katooke in Wakiso District, had died after throwing himself off the high-rise building.

A video clip circulated on social media shows Lule plunging down with arms stretched out before dropping first with a thud on a parked car and collapsing motionless on bitumen surface.

Doctors at Mulago Hospital said CT scan shows Lule, who can talk and walk unaided, suffered “trauma" after the fall but his bones remained largely intact except for a fracture on his left arm.

Speaking to Daily Monitor from his bed, Mr Lule said he was a troubled soul and distressed after losing his tailoring job in the city.

“I was a tailor but with few clients and sometimes I would close the day without [money for] transport [fare] back home,” he said, adding: “I have many problems in my life that sometimes I regret why I was born.”

Mr Lule claims that he scaled up to Mabirizi Complex roof-top to “relax a bit” and “have some fresh air”. “I only regained consciousness on my hospital bed," he said, "And those attending to me narrated what had happened to me. I regret everything and I am so sorry to whomever I could have caused harm or pain.”

Mr Lule, a Primary Seven drop-out, said he was living with his younger brother in a rented house in Nansana, outside Kampala. Their monthly rent bill is Shs50, 000.

"I have never had any girlfriend in my life," he said, writhing.
If and when he recuperates, Lule says he plans to buy new sewing machines and start up a tailoring school to empower young people to get out of poverty.

Lule’s mother, Ms Amatu Namakula, describes her son as "hardworking, brilliant and visionary who loves people".
She thanked well-wishers who have contributed generously to the treatment of her son.

“Lule is feeling a lot of pain inside the body and the face because of injuries but we hope he will be fine,” Ms Namakula said.
The mother says she momentarily passed out on watching the video of Lule's fall.

Ms Namakula is an unemployed resident of Kagoma in Kawempe, a Kampala surbub, who separated with her husband Siliman Ssebirumbi when Lule was seven-years-old.

“But I sometimes communicate with Lule and his other brother, although I take long without meeting them. He last came to my house two weeks ago begging for Shs15,000 to look after himself. He told me he had been beaten by some people over failure to pay debts,” the mother re-collects.

WHERE IS MABIRIZI COMPLEX