Kamuli Police recover Buyende kidnapped girl

PIC: Nabalanda (centre) with her relatives. (Tom Gwebayanga)

KIDNAP | RECOVERY

KAMULI - The Police in Kamuli district have, after 12 days, recovered the nine-year-old girl who was kidnapped on her way back from school by a woman who feigned as her class teacher.

Ruth Fatina Nabalanda, who was kidnapped on March 29, 2018, was recovered from Buwenge town on Kamuli-Jinja Road on Tuesday morning, after the kidnapper phoned telling the Police to collect the girl from an LC1 chairman, only identified as Musiitwa in Buwenge town.

The P3 pupil of Nabirumba Primary School, Nabwigulu sub-county, Kamuli district, was kidnapped as she was returning home in Iraapa village, Bugaya sub-county in Buyende.

After calling the Police, the kidnapper, who, on the kidnap day introduced herself as Teacher Masitula, phoned the girl's relatives, telling them that she had not kidnapped Nabalanda, but had taken her to be a housemaid. She told the family to find their child with the Police in Kamuli.

The Police then rushed to Buwenge, only to find a weary, shivering girl with scratches on the back with the Musiitwa.

Nabalanda being checked by relatives and Police personnel at Kamuli Police Station. (Credit: Tom Gwebayanga)

How Nabalanda was kidnapped

Nabalanda was kidnapped by "Teacher Mastula", who duped the auntie of the victim, Sarah Mukyala, that she was her class teacher at Nabirumba P/S.

She befriended and coached the girl to make the guardians believe that she was her teacher, before they went to David Ssebide's home, where she has grown up.

Teacher Masitula allegedly said she had come to seek permission to allow her add Nabalanda to a team of the bright pupils she gave ‘special coaching'.

The initial negotiations with Mukyala failed, so they had to wait for the decision of the household head, Ssebide, who failed to turn up until dusk.

It was then that the girl was sent to buy kerosene after the solar lamp failed to work. The kidnapper seized the opportunity sneaked from the sitting room and joined the girl, before bundling her on a bodaboda and vanished.

Nabalanda could not narrate the ordeal, save for a few nods in response to her excited relatives.

She told her relatives that she had been feeding on meals prepared from dried, sliced sweet potatoes, locally known as obukeke, without stew.

The regional Police commander for Busoga North, Cosmus Ruganzu, hailed the stakeholders of the hunt, including the media, who played big roles, which led to the girl's recovery.

Ruganzu warned the public to beware of strangers, who pose as being desperate, but end up bringing disastrous consequences.

He added: "Strangers must identify themselves using national identity cards. Some of them pose as being desperate and end up stealing household items. In this case, Teacher Mastula stole a simcard from Kasolwe, before heading to Iraapa and used the same line to call the girls' relatives for a sh4m ransom."


The Police spokesperson for Busoga north, Michael Kasadha advised parents to endeavor to know their children's teachers by name and face.