Policeman kills wife and child, commits suicide

Police constable suspected to have deserted the force killed his wife and two month old child shortly before committing suicide.

The massacre of the family happened on Tuesday morning at their home in Alengo Village, Atiira Sub County in Serere district.

According to the District Police Commander (DPC) Serere Central Police Station, Jimmy Anthony Oyuku, the body of John Robert Elau, 35, who was once a Special Police Constable and integrated to the police force where he worked with the Field Force Unit in Fort Portal committed suicide inside his grass thatched house.

He identified the deceased as Salume Akiteng, 30, and the child only known as Atai.

Oyuku further explained that the deceased who has been embroiled in domestic disputes with his late wife, walked from the nearby trading center and found Akiteng doing laundry before they engaged in a fight.

"I suspect he could have used a hoe for killing them which we recovered at the scene of the crime near where the two bodies were" Oyuku said.

"They had some domestic issues, the man was taken to court and was released on bail and that is when he came and committed this crime" Oyuku said.

Police officers display the suspected murder weapon. Photo by Felix Osujo

Akiteng and the child's body were found lying close to each other near the door entering the hut where Elau committed suicide.

Julius Ochom an official at Serere Health Center IV who examined the bodies disclosed that the heads of the mother and child were hit by a sharp object and had multiple fractures causing damage to the brain which ultimately led to their death.

Elau's father Robert Onaba said they had meetings with clan leaders together with the relatives of his wife but she made a complaint to a probations officer regarding neglect leading to his detention for detention for two weeks. He said he didn't know who went and released Elau.

He said they tried to reconcile the couple in meetings they convened but the wife was mainly irked by her husband's affair with another woman and neglecting their child.

The Family and Child Protection officer at Serere Central Police Station, Florence Adongo, said her office had on several occasions tried to settle the domestic issues between Elau and his wife before the matter ended up in court. 

She revealed that the woman suspected of having an affair with Elau had handed herself over to police this morning.