Police exhumes swapped baby's body to establish paternity

CRIME |

Villagers in Nakalama village, Iganga district watched in excitement as Police exhumed the body of a swapped baby.

Last week the Nabweru court-ordered Police pathologists to exhume the deceased's remains to carry out a post-mortem to ascertain the paternity. 

This followed a complaint filed by Rogers Egonga and his wife Gloria Awino who in March this year reported a case of child theft against the proprietor of KAMIC Medical Centre in Kawempe, George Ssenkomi, and Pastor Raymond Magge and his wife Patience.

On March 21, clinical officer George Ssenkomi allegedly swapped a live baby boy with a dead one. He gave Pastor Raymond Magge and his wife Patience Biwaga a live baby and gave the real parents Gloria Awino and Rogers Egonga a dead one.

A few days later when the real parents had finished burial, they found out that the baby they had buried was not theirs.

Police pathologists led by Dr. Moses Byaruhanga executed an exhumation.

Before the exhumation, Egonga's family members asked Police to first bring goats and chicken to silence the ‘ghost' that could haunt them after the exercise.

However, their request fell on deaf ears, Dr. Byaruhanga went ahead with the exercise.  After the exercise, family members rejoiced.

"We were scared that we were keeping a dead body that does not belong to us, but we are happy that the body has left our ancestral grounds," said Moses Sungwa, Egonga's father.

According to Police, the exhumed body will be kept in the Mulago mortuary as investigations are ongoing.

"We are going to carry out a DNA test to establish the paternity," said Dr. Byaruhanga.

Last week, DNA results from the Government Analytical Laboratory (GAL), showed that Egonga is the biological father of the live baby.

Police have to carry out Another DNA test to establish whether the dead body belongs to them.

Mohammed Swaga, the local council chairperson, also asked the government to punish all the doctors who were involved in the baby swapping case.

"In order to reduce baby theft cases in the country, the medical council needs to cancel doctors' licenses who participate in such evil acts," said Swaga.