RUBANDA | POLICE | FARMER | MOB

Police in Rubanda district, western Uganda, were still holding a gardener on Tuesday in connection with a mob justice case that turned fatal for a man suspected of having been caught stealing passion fruits from his garden. 

Obed Masekura, 53, a peasant farmer and owner of the passion fruit garden at Kamuhungye cell, Bufundi sub-county, was in police custody for questioning over an alleged murder by a mob. 

It is alleged that Dickson Tukacungurwa, 34, a resident of Bugandara cell, Nyamatembe ward in Kacerere town council, was caught in his garden stealing passion fruits and was beaten into a coma, but he later died in hospital. 

A statement released by Kigezi region Police spokesperson Elly Maate says the deceased was killed by a village mob after the garden owner (suspect) woke up at about 3:00 am on March 19, 2023, after hearing someone picking passion fruits from his garden. 

It is alleged that Maseruka alerted his neighbors and raised an alarm that attracted a mob that descended on the man. Tukacungurwa tried to escape, but the mob waylaid him, beat him to a comma, and abandoned him beside the main road.

Police said at about 6:00 am, they were notified about an abandoned person lying beside the road in critical condition, and a team of police officers reached the scene and took the injured to Bufundi Health Centre III for treatment. 

Maate added that the suspect followed and reported a case of theft against Tukacungurwa at the Bufundi Police post, but he passed on the following day, March 20, 2023, at about 9:00 am. 

“It is at this point that Police arrested Musekura to aid the investigations as the hunt for the killers is going on,” he added.