Prison warder drowns stealthily catching fish in Kayunga pond

Police in Kayunga District are investigating circumstances under which a prison warder attached to Bulawula Prison Farm drowned in a fishpond.

According to the Kayunga District Police Commander (DPC) Rosette Sikahwa, 28-year-old Rajab Obelere drowned in the fishpond as he attempted to “illegally catch fish on Friday night.”

"The deceased and his colleague were on Friday night deployed to guard the fishpond, but instead, they tried to stealthily catch fish using a hook and it was during this that  Obelere slid into the pond," she said.

James Muholi, the officer in-charge of the farm said the gum boots Obelere was putting on were to blame for the unfortunate incident.

“The hooks the deceased were using to illegally fish from the pond were found at the scene,” he noted on Saturday.

After the incident, an unidentified prison warder who was with the deceased allegedly tried to rescue him but failed, which prompted him to shoot in the air to attract the attention of colleagues who rushed to the scene and found Obelere dead.

"It is unfortunate that he has died in circumstances like that,” Muholi observed in a brief statement.

According to him, the deceased had just been transferred to the prison about a month ago.

Muholi told this publication that they usually deploy warders to guard the fishpond because residents from neighbouring communities steal fish from the farm.

By press time on Saturday, the deceased’s body was at Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital for postmortem.