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MAYUGE

A 23-year-old man has raped and killed his 40-year-old aunt in Mayuge district.

Muhammud Baligasima murdered Fatuma Mutesi, the wife of Yaket Kaveera, after she refused to accept his sexual advances.

Police say the incident happened on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, evening at
about 7:00pm at Isenda village in Kigandalo sub-county.

The incident 

Busoga east Police region spokesperson Diana Nandawula told New Vision Online on Thursday that its suspected Mutesi was first raped by Baligasima and later murdered her using a pounding stick.

According to Nandawula, preliminary investigations indicate that Baligasima's uncle, Kaveera, left Mutesi and the suspect at home and went to the nearby trading centre.

Baligasima utilised the chance and entered into the house where Mutesi was and raped her after which he hit her with a pounding stick leading to her death.

According to Nandawula, investigations show that Baligasima was fond of making sexual advances to wives of his uncles.

“This is the fifth wife of his relatives he has made sexual advances to and she refused. Knowing that she had knowledge of reporting him to his father or concerned authorities, he decided to rape and kill her,” she added.

Nandawula said angry residents killed Baligasima after tracking the bloody footsteps his home. 

Baligasima, who had spent one year in jail for house breaking, was just released on Friday, April 5, 2024 and returned to stay with his uncle, Kaveera.

She noted that the case was reported to Police by the local leaders and upon arrival at the scene of crime, the deceased (Mutesi) was found in the sitting room lying in a pool of blood while the body of Baligasima was in the compound near his house.

Both bodies were taken to Kigandalo Health Centre IV for a postmortem and later handed over to relatives for burial.

Isenda village chairperson, Bumali Kawanguzi, said he learnt of the mob action and that when he arrived at the scene, he found Mutesi's naked body on the floor and as they followed the blood footsteps, they found that of Baligasima in the compound near his home.

Kigandalo sub-county councillor Ibrahim Gavamukulya called for counselling of ex-convicts before they are released from jail and reintegrated into the communities.

He also urged the district authorities to intensify sensitisation drives aimed at curbing gender-based violence in homes.

This is the first case of murder after rape to be reported in Busoga east region.

A 2023 report on cases of rape indicates that Police registered 23 from Jan to October compared to 36 in 2022.

According to the annual Police report of 2023, there is a decrease in reported crimes from 231,653 in 2022 to 228,074 in 2023.

A total of 1,623 rape cases were reported to Police in 2022 compared to 1,486 in 2021 giving a rise by 9.2% by end of 2022. A total of 557 cases were taken to court while 554 are still pending in court. A total of 1,439 female adults were raped and 184 female juveniles.