Luwero, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police in Luwero district have arrested a woman for allegedly beheading her own one-week old child.
The suspect has been identified as Aidah Naluyange, aged 30 years, a resident of Kakinzi village in Butuntumula sub county. She is accused of cruelly beheading her own child identified as Mariam Nassonko aged only a week.
Salim Zimula Sserunkuuma, the Kakabala parish councilor says that Naluyange using a panga beheaded her own child at around 6pm on Wednesday evening, killing her on the spot and thereafter alerted her mother in law.
Zimula explains that Naluyange later told her mother-in-law that she was possessed by evil spirits which forced her to behead the child.
He adds that the mother-in-law alerted local leaders and residents who called the police who immediately arrested her.
Zimula says that the cruel act left the village in shock and the woman had no record of either mental illness or criminality.
By the time the baby was killed, her father Robert Kitandwe had just left home an hour ago on the way to Kampala city and received the shocking news in a taxi.
Police transferred the dead body to Luwero hospital for postmortem and today it has been given back to the bereaved family for burial.
Isah Ssemwogerere, the Savannah Regional Police Spokesperson says that police officers arrested Naluyange and detained her at Luwero Central Police Station as investigations into the murder commence. But while in the cells, she attempted to commit suicide.
Ssemwogerere says that policemen guarding the cells responded quickly to restrain her from committing suicide and later transferred her to Luwero Hospital for a medical checkup.
In 2020, at least 107 people were killed in Luwero district. According to the district police crime report, accidents claimed 25 lives, 13 died in mob justice, six people committed suicide and two people were poisoned.
The report further reveals that four people were killed in domestic violence whereas 51 people died but police didn’t specify the circumstances.
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