Nebbi man secretly buried wife in kitchen

By Benedict Okethwengu

The Police in Nebbi district are yet to secure a court order to exhume the body of a woman in her 20s, who disappeared a year ago and was discovered to have been secretly buried in her marital home.

The Nebbi district Police commander, Onesmus Mwesigwa identified the deceased as Awekonimungu Angeyonimungu, a Congolese national.

In a confession after his arrest, the dead woman’s husband said he killed her out of anger over HIV.

Mwesigwa said the disappearance of Awekonimungu was reported at Dei Police post in June last year, but efforts to trace her were fruitless.

Mwesigwa told New Vision that Awekonimungu’s grave was discovered following a tip-off by the neighbours.

“We got a tip from a concerned resident that Awekonimungu was killed and buried in her kitchen by her husband,” he said.

Mwesigwa said she was killed after being married to Bedijo Owita, 31, for hardly a year.

‘She tricked me’

Owita – a fisherman – and Awekonimungu were residents of Dei B village in Panyimur sub-county.

“We are holding one Owita for murdering and burying his wife secretly. We thank residents for the tip-off and we are going to ensure that the case is followed up to its logical conclusion because we cannot allow such injustice to continue,” Mwesigwa said.

The Police, however, could not exhume the body because they did not have a court order authorizing them to do so and Mwesigwa hoped that they would get it this week.

He said the Police have deployed at the home to guard the scene of crime.

The Nebbi district officer in charge of criminal investigations, Hamilton Okidi, said the Police have preferred murder charges against Owita.

In a statement to the Police, Owita confessed to killing and burying his wife secretly in their home and led the Police to his kitchen, where he buried Awekonimungu.

“I could not control the anger when my wife told me she had lost her first husband to HIV/ AIDS,” Owita confessed.

I felt it was too much given that I was even using condoms before she tricked me into sex without condoms after refusing to go for an HIV test.”