Mother strangles 4 daughters to death

Aug 01, 2008

A WOMAN on Wednesday strangled to death her four children, including a set of twins, inside her rented two-room house in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb, before trying to kill herself.

By David Muwanga
and Raymond Baguma


A WOMAN on Wednesday strangled to death her four children, including a set of twins, inside her rented two-room house in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb, before trying to kill herself.

Margaret Kasande, alias Nalongo, used a nylon curtain and strangled her daughters, aged between two and five, one by one, starting with the eldest. She then placed the four bodies on the bed in the front room and covered them neatly with a bedsheet.

In an attempt to commit suicide, she put a rope around her neck and took poison but was rescued by her husband, Gerald Mukwandi, when he returned from work in the evening.
Mukwandi, a butcher at Kalerwe Abattoir, told The New Vision that upon arrival, he found the door of the house locked and used the spare key to get in.

“When I opened the door, I heard my wife groaning. She was vomiting and had a rope tied round her neck. I saw the children lying in bed. I moved over and touched them. They were dead,” a visibly upset Mukwandi narrated.

He alerted the neighbours who came to his aid and rushed his wife to Mulago Hospital, where she was admitted. She was later transferred to Butabika Mental Hospital. The bodies were taken to Mulago mortuary by the Police.

Two of the children, three-year-old Martina Ainembabazi and five-year-old Marion Muhooza, were pupils at Arena nursery school in Kamwokya. The twins, who were fondly referred to as Nakato and Babirye by the relatives, were two years old.

Mukwandi, who recorded a statement with the Police, said a day before the tragedy, the couple had had a disagreement.

“She wanted to start working but we had nobody to take care of our children. I wanted us to get a maid before she would start working,” he said overwhelmed by emotion.
But another neighbour said Kasande decided to kill her children and commit suicide after she learnt that her husband intended to abandon her.

A teary Florence Mukankusu, an elder sister of Mukwandi, said: “My brother telephoned me. When I arrived, the bodies lay on the bed. Marion was very cold and her neck had scratches. Neighbours said they saw their mother holding a kaveera and a piece of wood. She could have used those items (to kill them).”

The Police said Kasande was being closely monitored in hospital. When she recovers, she will be charged with murder.
An elderly neighbour to the family, who identified herself as Jaja Claire, said the children did not go to school all day.

“Mama Marion stayed in her house most part of the day. It was unusual because I did not hear any sounds from the house. I saw her only in the morning when she stood in her doorway.”

Like many others, Jaja Claire wondered what could have prompted the mother to take such a drastic and unusual action.
“We wonder why she did this. Her husband works hard and often returns home at night. He was providing her everything and she would dress smartly.”
Neighbours said they several times had to intervene when Kasande beat up her children. “Recently, she beat them up badly. When we intervened, she brushed us off saying after all, they were her children,” Jaja Claire said.

Jennifer Tebandeke, the caretaker landlady who is also the LC1 chairperson for Kamwokya Central Zone, confirmed that Kasande could treat her children in a harsh way.
“We thought she was a quiet character. But she would beat up her children regularly and whenever we intervened, she would tell us not to meddle into her domestic affairs,” she recalled.

“One day, I sternly warned her against beating the children since they were also our responsibility.”

She added that the family had been tenants for the past seven years but they never paid their sh70,000 monthly rent on time.
At the school where the two eldest girls studied, teacher Irene Womugisha said the children would come in on cold mornings without sweaters.

“They were young and risked catching diseases. Whenever we mentioned it to their mother, she kept quiet. But she did pay the fees. They owed us no money this term.”

CID officer Joseph Ekinu said the Police were carrying out investigations to establish the motive behind the murders. Ekinu said the doctors were examining her to see if she had swallowed poison.

Relatives and friends gathered in the small house, overcome with grief. The walls still had drawings of the children.
“Our problems should not be the end of the world. The children had no fault, yet their mum ended their lives,” said Rose Kirabira, the RDC of Kampala Central, who visited the scene.

It is the second family tragedy in two days. On Tuesday night, a man in Bushenyi hacked to death five people, including his wife, sister-in-law and three children of his brothers, before killing himself with a knife.

The man had run away from Butabika mental hospital. The incidents raise questions about the adequacy of psychological services in Uganda.

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