Man returning from two-year jail term hacks wife to death

A police investigation is underway in Mayuge District after a 32-year-old woman was allegedly hacked to death by her husband in Buwanda village, Malongo sub-county.

The deceased, who has been identified as Fatuma Nabirye, is alleged to have been locked in the bedroom by her husband, before being hacked multiple times with a machete.

The Busoga East Police Spokesperson, Ms Diana Nandaula, said residents heard the wife screaming, but none of them could gain access to the bedroom which had been locked from the inside, while others dismissed it as a “simple domestic fight”.

“We were told that people heard the woman screaming as the fight went on, but they could not intervene because this man had locked the house from inside,’’ Ms Nandaula said on Wednesday.

Police say the husband, who is fresh from serving a two-year sentence, had three wives, including the deceased, before his sentencing.

Ms Nandaula said preliminary investigations suggest that the husband, who is currently on the run, accused the deceased of committing adultery during his incarceration.

The suspect, with the help of his other wife, lifted the woman out of the house after realising she was unresponsive and dropped her body in a cassava garden, where it was discovered on Wednesday.

The suspect’s accomplice has been arrested to help in investigations, according to Ms Nandaula, who has attributed the death to domestic violence which she says is rampant in the Busoga East region and topped last year’s crime list.

Mr Rogers Mugabi, a brother of the deceased, however, alleges that the suspect was avenging the two-year jail sentence he served for reportedly stealing his mother-in-law's cow.

He said: “We believe that this man killed our sister because he was found guilty of stealing our mother’s cow and jailed.”

Mr Mugabi says the deceased had not officially brought the suspect to the parents during their year-long childless relationship.

Mr David Zijja, the sub-county councilor in the Sub-county of Malongo, condemned the crime, saying such acts are not only criminal but shameful. People should stop killing in this sub-county because it's shameful and illegal.

In a related incident, Police in Mayuge District have commenced investigations into the mysterious death of an unidentified man, whose body was discovered at Paradise Lodge in Lugolole trading centre, Baitambogwe sub-county.