Three beaten to death in two separate Kayunga mob attacks
Police detectives and residents at the scene where one of the suspected thieves was beaten to death at Nakaliro village in Kayunga Town council on April 4, 2024. PHOTO/ FRED MUZAALE
What you need to know:
- The two mob attacks happened hours apart
- Police reportedly took long to respond to calls in order to save the suspected thief because all the police patrol vehicles had gone in the field.
The police in Kayunga District are investigating two mob attack cases in which three suspected thieves, including one from a private security company, were killed.
The Kayunga District officer in-charge of the criminal investigations department, Ms Beatrice Ajwang on Thursday said in the first attack that occurred on Wednesday in Namabugga village in Kitimbwa sub-county, two youths were lynched by a mob after they were suspected of stealing a wheelbarrow and two iron sheets.
“According to the information we received, the duo were rounded up and tied with ropes by residents at night after they raided homes and stole household properties,” Ms Ajwang said.
She said the wheelbarrow which the suspected thieves are said to have stolen was found at the crime scene. The identities of the deceased, she said, were not readily available but said they are residents in the sub-county.
In the second attack, the CID boss said, a man who security operatives said was attached to a private security company was lynched by a mob in Nakaliro village in Kayunga Town after he broke into a house on Thursday at around 10am.
The unidentified man in his late 20s, according to local leaders in Nakaliro village broke into a locked house of one of the residents, thinking the occupants had gone to work.
The incident took place a stone throw away from Kayunga police station.
“When he entered the house, fortunately the wife was inside. She raised an alarm, forcing the deceased to flee to a nearby swamp,” the CID boss said..
However, Mr Isa Katongole, the Kayunga police station officer in-charge said, residents who were in the rice gardens pursued and later arrested him.
“The angry residents, who gathered in droves then battered and also hacked him on the head until he died,” Mr Katongole said.
Mr Katongole said the police took long to respond to calls in order to save the suspected thief because all the police patrol vehicles had gone in the field.
“The deceased has been working with a private security group,” a security source said.
This publication could not independently verify the claims by security.
