Man kills own children for money rituals

A 46-YEAR-OLD MAN, Musilumu Mbwire, has been arrested for allegedly killing his two children for money ritual at Jiira Village in Bbaale Sub-county, Kayunga District, Uganda.

  The body of one of the two children, Latif Kamulasi, 7, was exhumed by police pathologists on Tuesday. The body of his sibling, 3-year-old Sahum Baizambona, could not be located after a long search.

  The police said their father, Musilumu confessed to have cut his children’s throats after his employer asked for their blood promising to pay him Shs4 million and a commercial building at Bbaale Trading Centre.

  “My boss promised me Shs4m and a house if I sacrificed my children and gave him the blood, but he has so far paid me Shs100,000,” the police quoted Mbwire to have said.

  His employer, however, has denied any involvement in the shocking killing. Both men are in police custody at Kayunga Central Police Station to assist police with investigations into the callous act

  The police say producing the suspects in court to be charged, has been delayed by public holidays for President Museveni’s swearing-in on Wednesday and Eid-el-Fitr on Thursday.

  The Criminal Investigations Directorate spokesperson, Charles Twine, said during a media briefing two weeks ago, that the suspect’s brother, Simon Kibubu, who lives in the same area, said he got concerned when he discovered that two of Mbwire’s children were missing.

  “When Kibubu asked his brother where the children were, he claimed he had taken them to their sister, Mary Kantono, who lives in the same parish,” Twine said.

  But when Kabubu asked MsKantono about the children’s whereabouts, she said she was unaware. This prompted  Kibubu to notify the area defence secretary, Asuman Bagala, and lodge a complaint with the police at Bbaale. The police then promptly arrested Mbwire.

  Twine and his team combed the bushes in Jjiira Village as the children’s father walked them from one spot to another to locate his children’s remains.

  Three locations that  Mbwire had pointed out as burial spots turned out false, enraging more the charged crowd and police investigators. The crowd, among whom were relatives and residents, hurled insults and curses at the father.

  Mbwire then led the group to a site where they had burnt charcoal several months ago. There he was given a hoe and dug out lumps of damp and loosened soil with the help of some area residents.

  More scoops yielded the decomposed body as tears rolled down the cheeks of some of sympathisers, who demanded the police surrender the suspect to them.

  The police shielded Mbwire from attack, and handed him gloves which he wore to scoop out the body of his son.  Twine said the suspect told them he buried Kamulasi in late March.

  After exhuming the first body, the suspect led them to a forest where he said he had buried the second child, Baizambona. But the police failed to locate the body after digging up at several sites he had led them to. At 7pm, the police called off the search and promised to return later. 

  Twine said they would resume the search this week and castigated people who look for wealth through human sacrifice.

  “Wealth is gotten through hard work, not human sacrifice,” he pointed out.

  The body of Kamulasi was taken to Mulago National Referral Hospital for a post-mortem as scene-of-crime officers and other detectives continue to gather more evidence.

  Police said they plan to submit the case file to the resident state attorney soon for a decision on whether the preferred charge of murder against the suspects is sustainable