THE Police in Rakai district have arrested a 30-year-old woman who chopped off her husband’s private parts, tongue and upper jaw and buried his body in their home.
Josephine Nakabugo, who operates a saloon in Rakai town, confessed to the Police that she participated in the murder of Frederick Walugembe, the Rakai district records officer, about three weeks ago. The couple had six children.
When her house was searched on Wednesday, a grave was found in the room with Walugembe’s bloodstained clothes and a bag in which his mobile phone was kept.
In the grave, a polythene bag containing the missing body parts was also recovered.
The television set and a half burned carpet were taken as exhibits since they were found to have blood stains. The Police had problems keeping at bay furious residents who wanted to resort to mob justice.
“We were forced to fire in the air to disperse angry residents who wanted to lynch Nakabugo when she led us to her house for search,” acting Police commander Henry Kavuma told The New Vision.
Residents said the woman had initially buried the entire body in the grave dug inside the room. But when the decomposing body started to produce a bad smell, she exhumed it and threw it in a forest in Kiwakanya village.
“People passing by saw the body but they could not recognise it. They spread the information and when we called Nakabugo to find out whether it was the one of her missing husband, she denied,” said Agnes Birungi, a neighbour.
The body was buried in the council cemetery since it had not been identified. Residents, however, continued to report to Rakai Police Station that they suspected it was Walugembe’s.
When the Police arrested Nakabugo on Monday for interrogation, she confessed having participated in his murder.
Walugembe stopped reporting for work at the district headquarters in late September. When his bosses inquired where he was, the wife told them he had gone to Juba, Sudan.
“She used the deceased’s phone to send messages saying he had gone to Juba. She wanted to create an environment for people to believe that he would be away for four months,” Rakai assistant CAO, Jamil Kabiito, said.
Francis Semanda, a pork seller and traditional herbalist, was also arrested after Nakabugo named him as her helper in carrying out the murder.
The neighbours told The New Vision that Nakabungo often threatened her husband for having another wife in Kampala.
“Whenever they had a quarrel, she would warn her husband in public that she would one day kill him,” Birungi said. Walugembe had a second wife in Nakulabye, Ester Nansubuga, with whom he had two children. She identified the body as that of Walugembe.
