Parents arrested for alleged involvement in son’s ritual murder

Kyotera, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The police in Kyotera are holding the parents of the late Francis Kateregga, aged 8, for their alleged involvement in his gruesome murder last week.

Macklin Namaganda and Mike Sserwada, both residents of Kasamba-Kyamayembe village in Bwamijja parish, Kabira sub-county, were arrested following fresh investigations.

Kateregga was staying with his uncle and maternal grandmother in Nakatoogo-Bikunya village, Kabira sub-county, when he disappeared on September 19, 2021. He had gone to their neighbor Margret Nakate’s house to watch television, when unknown people captured him on his way back home.

The residents led by Mike Ssebuliba, the Nakatoogo-Bikunya LC I chairperson mounted a joint search for the missing boy that night but to no avail. His body was later found in the bush just a few meters from his home. The killers split his head and removed his brain, while the blood was drawn from his body.

Initially, police arrested two witch doctors and another suspect later.

According to Muhammad Nsubuga, the Southern Regional Police Spokesperson, the police relied upon new vital information from different sources to arrest Kateregga’s parents.

It is said that the couple connived to kill their son for wealth while other sources said there was another man who had consistently claimed Kateregga, saying he was his biological father, which annoyed Sserwadda.

Richard Kalanzi, the Kabira LCIII chairperson says there has been a longstanding dispute over the boy after another man calling Sserwadda on different occasions claimed for the boy.

He further says that local authorities have tried so much to sensitise residents about the dangers of domestic violence but their efforts have been paralysed by the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of enough facilitation to visit different villages.

However, Namaganda and Sserwada have denied responsibility for their son’s death.

Muhammad Nsubuga appealed to the residents with vital information in the matter to help police in the ongoing investigation. He says they will keep the information confidential to protect their source.

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