Residents of Mbarara city have asked Police to intensify their operations following four separate incidents of death that claimed four people.

The crimes were registered in the suburbs of Kizungu and Katete in Mbarara city south division and Mbarara district.

Another victim is alleged to have been killed by shooting.

Rogers Ahimbisibwe, a resident of Kijungu in Mbarara City South Division, said security operatives should apprehend the proprietors of lodges, who refuse to register their guests as is required by Mbarara city council and the Police.

He said some of the wrongdoers hide in lodges during day time and move out at night to torment residents and those in transit.

Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi region Police spokesperson, said three murder cases were reported in Mbarara city south on July 25; the other was of a man killed in a shooting in Mbarara district.

Kasasira said the Police in Mbarara city south division is investigating circumstances under which Annet Nambuya, 32, a businesswoman and resident of Katete central cell, Katete ward, Mbarara city south division was hacked to death by unknown assailants on the night of July 25 at around 11:45pm.

He added that the assailants, using a sharp object, stabbed her while she was smoking her pipe under a tree, leaving her in a pool of blood.

Kasasira noted that after receiving the information, Police went to the scene with dogs to track down the assailants and, that, in the process a sharp panga, stained with blood, was recovered 50 metres away from the crime scene.

He said other exhibits retrieved at the scene include a sharp knife, black knickers, Infinix Phone, a watch and a smoking pipe wrapped in a polythene bag.

Kasasira further noted that the body was taken to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Mortuary for a post-mortem exercise.

Another incident happened in Katete central cell, Mbarara city south, where Phionah Ninsiima, 22, a businesswoman, was allegedly stabbed by her estranged lover, only identified as Saidi, on the night of July 25 at about 11:40pm. Her body was found in a pool of blood in the duo’s single rented room.

It is alleged that the incident emanated from a misunderstanding between Saidi and Ninsiima after the former allegedly accused the deceased of having extramarital affairs, which sparked the fight. Ninsiima is said to have been stabbed in the right side of the stomach, leading to her death. Police said Saidi is still at large.

In Kijungu, a suburb of Nyamityobora ward, Mbarara city, locals were on July 26 shocked after a man in his 30s only identified as Peter was found dead in Eliab Lodges.

Joseph Okwerede, the officer in charge of Nyamityobora Police Post, said they received information from Kevin Twinamatsiko, a staff at Eliab Lodges, about the death of a client in a room on Wednesday morning.

He said the body had some bruises on the face and that the Police also recovered some tablets and an empty soda bottle beside the body.

However, locals left with unanswered questions on how he could have been killed yet the room was locked from the inside.

The body was taken to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Mortuary for a post-mortem exercise.

Twinamatsiko said his client booked the room on July 25 and only identified himself as Peter, but that he had neither identification documents nor a phone.

“While conducting sanitation in the lodges the following morning, I reached his room and called him to open, to no avail. That is when we decided to report the matter to the Police,” he explained.

Okwerede blamed lodge proprietors for failing to co-operate with the Police and Mbarara city council over the guidelines of registering all their clients with their details, including next of kin and their place of origin, all geared towards curbing insecurity in the area.

Police asked some staff of Eliab Lodges to record statements that would help in investigations.

Locals and the Police at the scene of crime in Kijungu, Mbarara. (Photo by Fred Turyakira)

Businessman arrested

Police in Mbarara city are also holding Bonny Asiimwe, 44, the director of Embatura Drink Company and a resident of Bwegyiragye in Ishaka town council, Bushenyi district, on suspicion of shooting with a pistol and injuring Cuthbert Tukahirwa, 24.

It is alleged that Tukahirwa, a resident of Kakoba central cell in Mbarara, was on July 17, at around 11:30pm shot by Asiimwe in a bar on Kakoba Road in Mbarara city.

Kasasira said the suspect was apprehended on July 25 and that the documents pertaining to acquiring the firearm were recovered from the suspect.

Police arrests one of their own

Police in Mbarara are holding one of their own, Benson Agaba, on suspicion of shooting dead a suspect, Gerald Tubigarukwamu, a resident of Akatoma village, Kibingo parish, Kagongi sub-county, Mbarara district.

Kasasira explained that on July 2, two Police officers — Agaba Benson and Boaz Tumuhimbise — had gone to effect an arrest of a suspect over threatening violence.

He added that the officers on duty asked Tubigarukwamu, now the deceased, and the area LC1 chairperson to follow them to the Police station, but that he instead resorted to chasing one of the officers with a panga, with the intention of harming them.

The move, Kasasira said prompted the officers to fire bullets, some of which hit the suspect in the head, killing him instantly.