By Chris Mugasha

Police in Bushenyi is investigating circumstances under which a nursing officer within the municipality was beheaded by unknown assailants, and his head taken.

The district criminal investigations officer Fredrick Wetaya said Mbasa Demas, 30, was a nursing officer at Bushenyi Health Centre IV.

It was found that the deceased was also a part-time lecturer at the western campus of Kampala International University (KIU).

His headless body was found decomposing on Saturday on a farm in Bwatogo cell, central division in Bushenyi municipality.

 “This case has multiple scenes of crime. We suspect Mbasa was killed from a different location and then moved to where the body was dumped,” officer Wetaya played out the possible events of the grisly crime.

Police sniffer dogs were taken to the scene to track down the killers, but the hunt was fruitless, he added.

The search team was able to identify the slain lecturer using his phone which was found at the scene.

 “It is his phone that helped us to locate his parents and relatives,” explained Wetaya.

The dismembered body was taken to Kitagata hospital and later to his parent’s home for burial in Rukungiri district.

Police intends to talk to the deceased’s wife – Asiimwe Pamela – for some useful leads. “We cannot determine the motive until we recover the head,” the investigations officer said.

He called on the friends and the public to help Police in finding the killers by providing any information and clues, especially concerning the deceased's last moments alive.

Mbasa was among the health officers heading the safe male circumcision exercise in Bushenyi district and he also played a key role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. At KIU he worked as a clinical instructor.

He has left behind a widow and 11-month-old twins.

He graduated as an enrolled nurse at Kabale School of Comprehensive Nursing in 2007 and worked in Kawempe, a Kampala suburb.

Later, he joined Bushenyi local government and worked at Kitagata hospital before joining KIU for further studies, where he graduated as the best student of his class in 2012.

According to his friend and workmate, Robert Byamukama, Mbasa has been planning to enroll for a Bachelor of Medicine degree at the same university.

Byamukama appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to deploy in Bushenyi to beef up the investigation.

He revealed that last year, they found petrol and sisal at the door of the in-charge of the health centre. “We reported the matter to the Police. There is insecurity at the unit,” he said.