Man slays lover, buries her in bathtub

• Born Again woman discovered three weeks after death
  

• Was murdered after she caught boyfriend with younger lover in her house
  

• Bathtub was turned into concrete grave

By Vivien Nakitende, Joseph Makumbi & Ali Kizza

A young man is on the run after police discovered the decomposing body of his lover in her storied house in Zone Wakaliga B, Nalukolongo, on the outskirts of Kampala.

This is could read like a typical Hollywood movie script, yet is also stuff made of nightmares.
 
An older woman and young man less than half her age kicked off what was meant to be a casual relationship, but took a turn for the worst, ending in a tragic death.

The suspect, David Mbabaali, 30, is reported to have been bringing a younger woman to his lover's house, sparking off a chilling chain of events that led to the demise of the 72-year old Harriet Namyenya Mbaziira.

The bathtub where Namyenya was buried. PHOTO/Ali Kizza

According to police investigations, Namyenya, whose death has been estimated at three weeks ago, caught Mbaabali with a girlfriend on the ground floor of her storied house and a quarrel ensued. She told him to pack and leave but he pleaded with her to let him spend the night as he had nowhere to go.

On the fateful night, Mbaabali allegedly went up to the top floor where Namyenya was sleeping and stabbed her to death.

Namyenya goes missing

One of the neighbours who identified herself as Diana said they got suspicious when Namyenya 'disappeared'.

Mbaabali told them she had gone to Ghana, but after being pressed to give details he said she had gone to London.

A coordinated effort by friends and family got them in touch with the children of the deceased who live in London, but they denied any knowledge of her whereabouts.

Namyenya's storied house where she lived with a lover half her age. PHOTO/Ali Kizza

As suspicions grew concerned neighbours reported the missing person at Old Kampala police station. Mbabaali was summoned to police to explain the whereabouts of Namyenya. His varying accounts of the story led police to the old woman's house.

A search of the house at first revealed nothing until they went to the upper floor of the house.

The police found a door to the bathroom that had been sealed off with pieces of wood that had been nailed in the doorway.

When Mbabaali was asked what was inside he said Namyenya had sealed off the door because the bathroom had a leakage that caused a bad stench in the house.

The prayer place at Namyenya's home where people congregated for prayer and fellowship. PHOTO/Ali Kizza

Police then told him to get a hammer so they could break into the room to search it. This was Mbabaali's cue for until now he had not been considered a suspect. When he left to get a hammer he never returned.

The barriers were removed from the doorway and the door was broken down, and immediately a repulsive stench engulfed the house.

Inside the room was a bathtub that had been sealed with concrete which was also broken away.

Lying in there was Namyenya's decomposing body. By this time Mbabaali had had a head start, and it dawned on police that the young man had already fled.

How the two met

Namyenya lost her husband, Emmanuel Mbaziira, twenty years ago. Mbaziira was a judge during Idi Amin's presidency but fled the country with his family following political turmoil.

Mbabaali with the girlfriend he sneaked into his lover's house

In 1986 when President Museveni's government took over the couple returned to Uganda but left behind all their 12 children in London.

Following Mbaziira's death, the widow became born again and started hosting fellowship and prayer meetings at her home.
 
Among those who attended was Mbabaali. One thing led to another and the two struck up a relationship and eventually started staying together.

Betty Kyeyune, a relative to Namyenya revealed that when Mbabaali started reaping financially from the relationship he would occasionally sneak a girlfriend into the huge house.

The girlfriend identified only as Namatovu reportedly did not know that her boyfriend was in fact in a relationship with the deceased.

Kyeyune also said Namyenya's relationship with the young man displeased her children so much that many of them stopped communicating with her.

"Whenever they had anything to send her it was through her friends in Kawempe," she said.

Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said in addition to hunting for Mbabaali, they are hunting for two house helps that stayed at the house, but reportedly fled following the murder.

The police also have in custody three people to assist with investigations. Documents were also discovered showing that Mbabaali had embarked on transferring ownership of some of the widow's properties into his names.