Africa-Press – Uganda. Police in Fort Portal are holding a 27-year-old man on allegations of killing his father Joseph Okwil, 63.
The deceased had reportedly accused his son of stealing a neighbour’s matooke and was due to make a statement against the suspect at Karangura police post, Kabarole District, those knowledgeable about the matter told Sunday Monitor.
On Wednesday evening at about 7:30pm, grief engulfed the people of Kazingo Village and other surrounding villages in North Division, Fort Portal City, after the suspect allegedly killed his father with a machete.
The deceased, witnesses say, met his fate while watering his seedlings in a nursery bed. Family members and neighbours were treated to the gross sight of a beheaded Okwil, whose body was also mercilessly cut up in other areas. Theft caseThe officer in-charge of Karangura Police Post, Mr Moses Kasule, confirmed that by the time Okwil was killed, the police was waiting for him to make eye witness statements in the case involving his son stealing 11 bunches of matooke.
He said Ms Margrete Katutu, a resident of Kazingo, had reported the case to police.Mr Joseph Mugenyi, who saw Okwil’s body shortly after the gruesome incident, said: “He had several cuts on the head, nose, mouth and in the hands. I found him lying in a pool of blood. Together with local people, we immediately called police, which came and cordoned off the scene of crime.”
The body was taken to Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital for a post mortem.Mr Robert Twebaze, one of the deceased’s workers, said by the time of the incident, he had just left the deceased in the compound.
It is reported that the suspect had completed Senior Six.Mr Deo Bagonza, the brother of the deceased, said after the incident, the suspect went into hiding and returned on Thursday morning with a shirt wrapped around his arm.
“Immediately his sister and brothers saw him, they started shouting at him that he is the killer. We arrested him but people overpowered us and started beating him. He was rescued by police,” Mr Bagonza said.
Others at large
He added that the suspect first denied killing his father but upon interrogation from residents he revealed that he had committed the crime with two other residents of Kazingo Village. The duo had not been arrested by press time.
One of the widows, Ms Josephine Katusabe, said her husband and son had a long-running misunderstanding, which she did not disclose. Family and village sources say Birungi had always warned his father that he would kill him.
Sources that asked not to be named say the disagreement was about the way the deceased had allocated his property among his children, with the suspect often complaining that his father had favoured his siblings.
Okwil was a prosperous farmer and timber dealer. He had an unidentified number of children with two wives.
