Man held over beheading baby
Dec 22, 2009
The Police in Kawempe, a Kampala suburb, on Tuesday arrested a man for allegedly beheading his four-month-old baby and burying the head under his bed.
By Eddie Ssejjoba
The Police in Kawempe, a Kampala suburb, on Tuesday arrested a man for allegedly beheading his four-month-old baby and burying the head under his bed.
Geoffrey Ssenabulya, 22, a resident of Mukalazi Zone in Kawempe, allegedly committed the offence on Sunday in what is believed to be a ritual murder.
Ssenabulya reportedly asked his wife, Medius Asiimwe, to leave the baby girl with him and go to pick his phone from a relative in Nansana, about 10km from their home.
The officer in charge of criminal investigations at Kawempe Police Station, Paul Mugisha, said after Asiimwe left for Nansana, Ssenabulya reportedly called her and told her to meet him in Wakiso.
“The mother (Asiimwe) said she waited until she got tired and when she realised that she needed to breastfeed her baby, she hurriedly returned home,†Mugisha explained.
However, Asiimwe found the house locked with two padlocks, which puzzled her.
Mugisha said when Asiimwe traced her husband later, he lied to her that he had left the baby with a relative, but could not give the reasons why he had done so.
Asiimwe told the Police that although she did not suspect any foul play, she was puzzled about Ssenabulya’s locking of the house and giving the baby away to an unknown person.
Ssenabulya failed to show Asiimwe where the baby was and he was subsequently arrested after the intervention of relatives.
Ssenabulya’s sister, Nalongo Justine Tezitta, told the Police that they broke the padlocks and entered the house.
She added that they got suspicious when they realised that someone had dug inside the room.
“We were all shocked when he (the father) told us to remove some mattresses and dig under his bed,†Tezitta said.
With Ssenabulya’s help, the Police recovered the head from under his bed.
On interrogation, Ssenabulya told the Police that he had killed the baby and buried the head there, adding that he did not regret having done so.
The Police disclosed that it was during the search for the other body parts that a woman from Bulenga, identified as Aniifa Ssewava, called them, saying Ssenabulya had picked her phone.
The Police also arrested Ssewava on murder charges after discovering the decapitated body buried behind her pit-latrine in Bulenga, on the Kampala-Mityana road.
Ssewava’s home is about 15km away from Ssenabulya’s.
A relative said Ssenabulya, a Seventh Day Adventist, had been an ardent church-goer who would refrain from work every Saturday (Sabbath).
“But someone must have persuaded him to start visiting witchdoctors to get a job or wealth because he did not have a permanent job,†the relative said.
The Police in Kawempe, a Kampala suburb, on Tuesday arrested a man for allegedly beheading his four-month-old baby and burying the head under his bed.
Geoffrey Ssenabulya, 22, a resident of Mukalazi Zone in Kawempe, allegedly committed the offence on Sunday in what is believed to be a ritual murder.
Ssenabulya reportedly asked his wife, Medius Asiimwe, to leave the baby girl with him and go to pick his phone from a relative in Nansana, about 10km from their home.
The officer in charge of criminal investigations at Kawempe Police Station, Paul Mugisha, said after Asiimwe left for Nansana, Ssenabulya reportedly called her and told her to meet him in Wakiso.
“The mother (Asiimwe) said she waited until she got tired and when she realised that she needed to breastfeed her baby, she hurriedly returned home,†Mugisha explained.
However, Asiimwe found the house locked with two padlocks, which puzzled her.
Mugisha said when Asiimwe traced her husband later, he lied to her that he had left the baby with a relative, but could not give the reasons why he had done so.
Asiimwe told the Police that although she did not suspect any foul play, she was puzzled about Ssenabulya’s locking of the house and giving the baby away to an unknown person.
Ssenabulya failed to show Asiimwe where the baby was and he was subsequently arrested after the intervention of relatives.
Ssenabulya’s sister, Nalongo Justine Tezitta, told the Police that they broke the padlocks and entered the house.
She added that they got suspicious when they realised that someone had dug inside the room.
“We were all shocked when he (the father) told us to remove some mattresses and dig under his bed,†Tezitta said.
With Ssenabulya’s help, the Police recovered the head from under his bed.
On interrogation, Ssenabulya told the Police that he had killed the baby and buried the head there, adding that he did not regret having done so.
The Police disclosed that it was during the search for the other body parts that a woman from Bulenga, identified as Aniifa Ssewava, called them, saying Ssenabulya had picked her phone.
The Police also arrested Ssewava on murder charges after discovering the decapitated body buried behind her pit-latrine in Bulenga, on the Kampala-Mityana road.
Ssewava’s home is about 15km away from Ssenabulya’s.
A relative said Ssenabulya, a Seventh Day Adventist, had been an ardent church-goer who would refrain from work every Saturday (Sabbath).
“But someone must have persuaded him to start visiting witchdoctors to get a job or wealth because he did not have a permanent job,†the relative said.