Ugandan held in London for killing wife

By John Odyek and Raymond Baguma

David Kikaawa, 38, a Ugandan husband living in London has been apprehended by the British Police as a prime suspect in the murder of his wife, Linah Keza, 29. The wife described as a 'beauty queen' reportedly abandoned him for new love.

It is alleged that Kikaawa earlier reported dead after a suicide dose of poison, stabbed his lover, a Ugandan of Rwanda origins to death in what is described as a bizarre crime of passion. Kikaawa who hails from Butambala district, was raised in Lungujja, a Kampala suburb. He reportedly co -owns Club 791 a night spot in East London. The couple has a three year old child.

After the murder in the wee hours of Wednesday, Kikaawa disappeared and wife, described as a 'beauty queen' by neigbours was found dead by paramedics and Police. The neigbours called Police after they heard her scream repeatedly. Keza was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime after Police were called by the London Ambulance Service to King Edward Road, Leyton, at 4.29am.

Neigbours heard screams in the flat above them as the victim called for help. Shazia Mohyuddin, 47, said: "My wife heard screaming and was really scared. There was screaming then the door upstairs banged. Someone came running down the stairs."

He said the victim lived with her daughter: "She must have been in the flat when this happened, they were always together."

He said Keza was a loving mother and that all the neighbours in the flat liked her. "She was lovely and her daughter was always smiling. It is such a shock; we can't sleep because we think of the screams and what happened to that poor girl".

In a telephone interview from UK, a bereaved friend who declined to be named said "It is not true that he (Kikaawa) tried to commit suicide. It is good he has been arrested. Their relationship had ended, the girl got another guy, David Kikaawa never accepted it and that is the cause of the death. He stabbed Keza to death."

After the separation Kikaawa lived in West London while the deceased lived in East London. Rwanda's New Times newspaper said Keza was born in Uganda on January 2, 1983. She had her early education in Uganda and later studied from Kigali Institute of Science and Technology. She had been living in the UK for the last ten years.

Jack Hodari, a brother of the deceased woman told the New Times newspaper that the death of his sister was like 'a bad dream.'

Patrice Gateja Shema, the chairperson of the Rwandan community in London said Keza was an active member of the community.

 Tributes have poured in for the 'model', who was described by friends also as "an angel".