Attendant arrested after client dies in lodge

KAMPALA - A lodge attendant is being held at Katwe Police Station after a client was found dead in one of the inn's rooms.

Two women checked into K-Zone Lodge in Salaama, Makindye Division at around 8.30pm local time on Tuesday and paid for a room for half a night.

Later, one of the women reportedly left the lodge to go and buy food but took too long to return.

Curious, attendant Evelyn Nyabutono who was on duty at the time later went and knocked at their door to check if the second occupant had returned.

She told police that when she received no reply, she opened the door, only to be welcomed by a morbid scene. The woman who had remained was lying cold and lifeless inside the room's bathroom.

The body had scratches on the neck and a pillow lay beside it, inspiring suspicion that she could have been suffocated to death.

Fred Eriku, who is in charge of criminal investigations at Katwe Police Station, said they are holding Nyabutono as the main suspect.

"We are keeping her in our custody so that she can help us in our investigations since she is the prime suspect," he said on Wednesday.

Sulaiman Luswa Luyimbazi, the LC1 chairman of Kipamba Zone where the incident happened, told police the lodge is a hub of prostitutes which sometimes keeps criminals who masquerade as customers.

"It was in the night when someone informed me that someone had died in the lodge but up to morning, the lodge attendant had not reported the matter to police," he said.

Luyimbazi said the inn's management feared to report the matter to police fearing they would close the lodge.

Later, the police would be told of the incident and would intervene.

The body was taken to Mulago Hospital for a postmortem examination while  suspect Nyabutono remains in detention as investigations continue.