Bodies of foreign tourists killed in Queen Elizabeth National Park repatriated

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | After spending three weeks lying at Mulago hospital morgue, bodies of two foreign tourists killed last month in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese district have been handed over to UK forensic experts and later repatriated. .

David Barlow, a UK national and his wife Celia Geyer, a South African national were on their honeymoon when they landed in the hands of killers linked to the Allied Democratic Forces – ADF on October 18.

Although Police and military forensic experts collected the bodies alongside that of their Ugandan tour guide Eric Aryayi, UK and South Africa governments cautioned Uganda on tempering with the bodies before they arrived.

UK experts arrived in the country last week and the final postmortem examination was concluded on November 01. After the examination, Police officially handed over the bodies to the experts from UK and the corpses have since been repatriated.

Senior Commissioner of Police – SCP Fred Enanga, confirmed the repatriation of Barlow and Geyer bodies by experts and relatives from their respective countries. “We wish to inform the public that the bodies of the two foreign tourists, who were killed in Kasese, were handed over to the team of forensic and investigative experts from the UK, and repatriated,” said Enanga.

Ugandan security shared details to UK experts showing how the tragic murder of Barlow and Geyer were orchestrated. Among the documented details shared to foreign experts include timelines of events, aligned with GPS, phone evidence and other significant lines of inquiry. In addition, a full autopsy report was also handed over.

“We want to assure all Ugandans and visitors in the country that significant improvements in the safety and security of all visitors at all tourist sites in the country, have been made since the tragedy occurred,” added Enanga.

Earlier, Col. Deo Akiiki, the deputy UPDF Spokesperson, said 11 ADF linked members suspected to have participated in the murder of Barlow, Geyer and Aryayi were killed. The suspects were cornered crossing into DRC via Lake Edward on a boat.

UPDF, Marine and SFC arrested Njovu who is the alleged commander of ADF group that killed the tourists, Ugandans at Mpondwe border town five days ago. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni confirmed Njovu’s arrest. Security said efforts are now in place to examined part of the exhibits, recovered on the commander of the ADF rebel group.

“We promised that the truth behind these cowardly attacks would come out and the perpetrators brought to justice or put out of action, in case they fail to surrender. We continue to applaud the UPDF who are relentlessly pursuing the ADF remnants near the border and in the DR Congo, for the peace and stability of our country,” said Enanga.

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