Africa-Press – Uganda. Police in Buyende and Kamuli battled rowdy residents vowing to pay a mother and her daughter in their own currency for “slaughtering” their son in a gruesome murder over land.
Outraged locals accused a 58-year-old woman and her daughter of allegedly using a panga and hoe to murder Isa Nyerere, 32, on Wednesday at Butaswa Village in Bugaya Sub-county, Buyende District
“Nyerere returned home to the duo and asked for food for lunch but received a cold welcome. He picked potatoes, peeled them and wrapped them to boil but as he was blowing the fire in the kitchen the duo armed with a panga and hoe entered and hacked him, cut the neck with a panga,” a Local Council 1 leader who preferred anonymity explained.
According to him, Nyerere’s body was in a pool of blood at the time more locals rushed to the crime scene for mob justice against the alleged two female killers. Police was notified.
As the handcuffed pair received treatment, Kamuli hospital authorities were tipped of a mob gathered around its premises to “finish the suspects,” prompting the Medical Superintendent Dr Saidi Atuma to call police.
“Police acted swiftly to avert a triple murder crime. The suspects were whisked to safe custody but angry residents according to intelligence were determined to revenge,” Busoga North Police spokesperson Michael Kasadha observed.
Locals gathered at the hospital in which the suspects were rushed to after they were injured through mob action on December 9. PHOTO/SAM CALEB OPIO
From the crime scene, police said they recovered a panga and hoe to be used as exhibits.
“Preliminary investigations point to a land wrangle in which the deceased was even imprisoned for threatening the suspects and had just served his sentence. Information indicates that he has been requesting the clan to arbitrate and give him his portion of land to no avail till he met his death,” Mr Kasadha said.
“The long-time family issues were complicated by the fact that the deceased’s father -while alive- refused to give land to the Nyerere saying he was not his son, alleging that the wife came with the pregnancy from a previous marriage in Buzaaya,” an area LC1 had earlier explained.
Police cautioned the public against mob justice and urged masses to embrace other structures including NGOs like UWONET, FIDA to access justice.
“Once investigations are complete, the suspects will be taken to court and charged with murder,” Mr Kasadha said.
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