Witch doctors arrested for allegedly causing the death of two suspects

Kole, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police in Kole district have arrested two witch doctors for allegedly causing the death of two suspected thieves in Bala town council.

Nawedde Muzamil, 40, and Samuel Kigenyi, 33, all natives of Butelejja district were first rescued by police from an angry mob who descended on them after their intervention failed to immediately identify suspected thieves.

The witch doctors were hired by Jimmy Omuge, a resident of Tecambia ‘B’ cell, Western ward ‘B’ in Bala town council, after unknown people broke into his Nissan pick-up truck Reg. No UAL 589H, and stole a distributor cable. Omuge allegedly paid 5.5M shillings for the service.

On Sunday, the witch doctors performed their craft and informed people that the suspects will run mad and start eating grass within a short period of time, but the process took so long that the locals became rowdy and descended on the witches and they were rescued by police after a tip-off by a concerned member of the public. However, the next day, two residents who were suspected to have had a hand in the theft died mysteriously.

The deceased were identified as Nelson Ogwang, a 45-year-old driver from Bunya-Inomo sub-county in Kwania district, and Jacob Okello, a 27-year-old resident of Tecambia ‘B’ cell, Western ward ‘A’, Bala town council and their bodies were conveyed to Lira Regional Referral Hospital mortuary for postmortem. The third person identified as Tony Aber has since run mad and disappeared from the area.

Jimmy Patrick Okema, the North Kyoga Police Spokesperson says police received information that two residents of the area lost their senses and started behaving like the witches had described but unfortunately, they died before police got to the scene.

According to Okema, police is still investigating what caused the death of the two but the witch doctors are being detained at Kole Central Police Station awaiting guidance from the Resident Chief State Attorney on how to proceed with the case.

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URN