Police probe teacher after P7 pupil hangs self in school library
Police say pupils raised alarm after they found their colleague hanging -dead- in the library.
What you need to know:
- Police linked the incident to a teacher who threatened to severely punish the child.
- The incident happens as P7 candidates have less than a month to national exams.
Police in Bukomansimbi District are investigating circumstances under which a Primary Seven (P7) candidate reportedly committed suicide inside a school library.
The deceased, Paul Luyimbazi,14, was pupil at St. Jude Thaddeus Primary School in Bukomansimbi District.
Luyimbazi was found hanging in the school library by another pupil who made alarm that drew teachers’ attention.
Police are “investigating allegations that the boy could have committed suicide in fear after a teacher threatened him with a punishment of 80 strokes.”
According to Bukomansimbi District Police Commander (DPC) Onek Romeo Ojara, Luyimbazi attended class very fine but a teacher later invited him and his alleged 13-year-old girl friend for counseling.
“The deceased did not turn up when they were called. The teacher took effort to look for him but upon reaching the school library, he had hanged himself already,” Onek told Monitor on October 20.
Reports indicate that coupling is prohibited at the school and once the administration intervened once they suspected that the two children were in a unique relationship.
“Our officers interrogated both teachers and pupils at the school and realized that the deceased did not want to end his relationship,” he added.
Southern Regional Police Spokesperson Muhammad Nsubuga disclosed that Luyimbvazi’s body was taken to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital for postmortem.
“We continue to warn parents and teachers that are still giving corporal punishments to desist from this action or else they risk being arrested,” he said.
Man killed over woman in Sembabule
Meanwhile, police in the neighbouring Sembabule District are also probing circumstances under which a man killed his colleague in a fight for a woman at a bar.
A police patrol carrying the body of Joseph Kakembo who was stabbed by a colleague in a bar over a woman on October 20/2022. PHOTO/CLEOPHAS TUKAMARWA
Preliminary police investigations show that Joseph Kakembo, 20, and his colleague, Habib Byarugaba developed a misunderstanding over a woman in a bar.
“Byarugaba grabbed a sharp knife and stabbed Kakembo who died on the way to the hospital,” police said in a statement.
The incident occurred at Nambirizi Trading Centre at around 11pm on Wednesday.
According to locals, Byarugaba fled the area shortly after committing the offence and police have since launched a manhunt for him as a key suspect.
Masaka man dies in stone quarry
Police in Masaka city are also investigating circumstances under which a man died in a stone quarry at Lwanda village, Nyendo-Mukungwe Division in Masaka city.
The deceased has been identified by police as Badiru Kawooya, 57, a resident of Mpugwe Village, Nyendo-Mukungwe Division, Masaka city.
According to Mr Muhammad Nsubuga, the Southern Regional Police Spokesperson, Kawooya died when he was buried alive by soil at around 12:40pm while extracting stones in a cave on October 20.
“Nearby miners called others who swiftly responded to rescue Kawooya but he was already dead by the time the collapsed soil was removed,” Mr Nsubuga said.
The police visited the scene and documented a statement obtained from the eyewitnesses while Kawooya's body was conveyed to a hospital for postmortem as investigations proceed.
*Additional reporting by Noeline Nabukenya
