Man runs amok, hacks 3 dead in Kyankwanzi

The police in Kyankwanzi are hunting for a man, Emmanuel Twagirayezu, who is suspected to have run amok and hacked at least 11 people, leaving three of them dead.

Twagirayezu held a Rwandan national identity card, according to information from the local council in the area.

According to police, Twagirayezu committed the murders using a machete at around 10:00 am on Tuesday at Kagarama village, Butemba town council in Kyankwanzi district.

‘8 more left nursing serious wounds'

The suspect is reported to have hacked to death three children, who included: Joel Tayebwa, 4; Nora Nakisindi, 3; and a 9-month toddler identified as Joel Ninsiima.

In a statement yesterday, the spokesperson of Police's Criminal Investigations Directorate, Charles Mansio Twine, noted that Twagirayezu went to Kyankwanzi and hired land from a resident identified as Kalfred Mushabe to grow maize.

Twine said eight more people sustained serious injuries and that some of them have been admitted to Butemba Health Centre III, while others were referred to Hoima hospital for treatment.

Twagirayezu set up a makeshift structure on the land he hired from Mushabe where he was also cultivating maize. Unfortunately, one of the killed children (Tayebwa) belonged to his landlord.

"Twagirayezu first cut a baby identified as Joel Tayebwa before he proceeded to another home of workers at a maize planation and threatened to cut the women whom he found working there. The women ran away, but Emmanuel unfortunately chopped dead two more children namely; Nora Nakisindi and Joel Ninsiima," Twine said.

Twine said a team of police officers responded to the scenes following a phone call from one of the residents who informed the cops that Emmanuel was attacking residents with a panga without any known reason.

He added that residents made an alarm and Twagirayezu disappeared into a big maize plantation where the police and the community were by press time still pursuing him.

According to police, residents were puzzled by Twagirayezu 's gruesome actions, arguing that there was no known conflict between him and the families of the deceased children. "Twagirayezu was also not known to have a background of mental illness," Twine said.

Postmortems were carried out on the bodies of the deceased children by medics who visited the crime scene, before handing them to their respective families for burial.

The police force extended its heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased children and pledged to pursue Twagirayezu and arraign him before the court for prosecution.             

This incident happened hardly a year after a similar incident happened in Kakumiro district. In August last year, Kakumiro police arrested Leo Tumwesigye after he allegedly hacked his two sons to death.

Tumwesigye, a resident of Mizimu village in Kasambya sub-county, Kakumiro district, killed Matthias Mwesigwa, 3, and 9-month-old, Yeremiah Niwamanya, using a panga.    

According to police, the murder happened after Tumwesigye had picked a quarrel with his wife, Sharon Ninsiima, the previous night. The wife fled the home leaving behind their two children.