Woman kidnapped from Kakumiro health centre, raped, killed

Patients and medical workers at Kakindo Health Centre IV in Kakumiro District are horrified after a woman who was attending to her two sick children was kidnapped from the health facility in the wee hours of Thursday morning, raped and killed.

Constance Kyasimiire’s body was discovered half-buried in a garden in Kyakachwende cell, Kakindo town council hours after she went missing following a frantic search by her husband and other residents.

The 38-year-old mother of six and resident of Kiryabukurura village, Kikwaya Sub County was attending to her two sick children who were admitted at the health facility on Tuesday before she was reportedly kidnapped by unknown people.

Kyasimiire’s husband, Mr Christopher Twinamasiko who had stayed home with their other children said he got a distress call at around 1am on Thursday alerting him about his missing wife.

He joined the search team throughout the night only to stumble on his wife’s body several hours later.

‘‘My wife had gone to the health center to attend to our sick children. I got a call at around 1am from people who told me that my wife had gone missing from the facility. I went and joined the search team but we did not see her because it was still dark. At daybreak, we resumed the search only to find her body half-buried in a freshly-dug grave in the health center’s neighborhood,’’ Twinamasiko said.

Dr Nicholas Tumwesige, Kakindo Health Centre IV in-charge said the security personnel at the health facility got concerned after noticing that Kyasimiire had gone missing for hours and her children were crying. 

He said he immediately alerted police which arrived at the facility and mobilised a search team.

‘‘I was informed about a missing patient attendant from the children’s ward at around 3am by the security guard. We found her shoes at the latrine and a trail of footmarks. We searched for her vain and since it was still dark, we waited for the day to break when we resumed the search and found her body buried in the garden,” he said. 

The body was found buried a few metres away from the home a 28-year-old man identified as Evaristo Kisakye. When police searched his house, they reportedly recovered some clothes belonging to the victim. He was arrested and taken to police for questioning.

Dr Tumwesige said the postmortem report indicates that Kyasimiire sustained bruises on the neck and that her private parts were bleeding which points to possible rape. 

He said the security of the highly-frequented health facility is compromised because it lacks a strong fence.

‘‘The deceased’s body had bruises around her neck and her private parts were bleeding which all point to rape. Our health facility has no fence and it is frequented by many people around this area. Our security guards get challenges in restricting people from entering the facility premises. We want the district to help us and put a fence at this health center,’’ Dr Tumwesige said.

The Kakumiro District officer in charge of crime investigations, Mr Heloth Karacha, confirmed the murder and the arrest of one suspect.