Category Archives: Jinja district

Uganda: can increase in ritual murders be stopped by harsher punishment for murderers?

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“Perhaps it is time to debate whether there are situations that require the death penalty” – says Miriam Wangadya, chairperson Human Rights Commission Uganda.

The chairperson of the Human Rights Commission Uganda, Miriam Wangadya, is devastated and despairing. The gruesome ritualistic killing of innocent victims often young children is heartbreaking, she says. The mutilated bodies found are disgusting witnesses of a violent death.

She cites a number of well-known recent ritual murder cases including the ritual murder of a four-year old girl in Jinja district in 2021 and the ritualistic murder of two young girls, sisters, by their mother, also in Jinja district in 2023. Statistics release by Uganda National Police indicate that ritualistic sacrifices are on a steady increase from 22 cases in 2019, to 45 in 2020, to 46 in 2021 and 72 in 2022.

The chair of the Human Rights Commission Uganda makes a plea for harsher punishment.

Since Uganda observes a moratorium on the death penalty she suggests to have a national debate whether indeed there are situations which require the death penalty. The law must take its full force, she argues, and murderers who kill innocent and helpless children deserve the capital punishment. Punishment should match the crime. A stern message is to be sent out that murder in al its forms is totally unacceptable and is met with the strongest deterrent, she insists.

But will the capital punishment, ‘an eye for an eye’, really act as a deterrent for the greedy and ruthless criminals who are willing to sacrifice the life of a human being for more money, power, or prestige?
(FVDK)

Murderers of innocent children deserve harsher punishment

Published: April 9, 2024
By: New Vision, Uganda

Source: Murderers of innocent children deserve harsher punishment

Uganda: some reflections on human sacrifice

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Human sacrifice is a widespread phenomenon in Uganda while some specific regions are notoriously known for their ritualistic killings. Yesterday, November 5, I posted an article on the sentencing of a man from Mayunge District who had killed his son for personal gain in 2017, and the day before, on November 4, I posted an article on a mother in the Kiira region who had killed two of her children, also for ritual purposes. These are not isolated cases as the following demonstrates.

Districts of Uganda – Wikipedia

Two witchdoctors in the Kamuli District were arrested earlier this year, suspected of a ritual child sacrifice while in Luwero District on January 7 an 8-year boy was kidnapped from his family’s courtyard and found back without head, fingers and toes. In November 2022 two men from Kayunga District were found guilty of child sacrifice committed in 2009. Within Uganda the Kayunga District has earned the dubious reputation of being one of the most notorious killing places.

Kayunga District shares this reputation with the Kiira region (Wakisi District, Central Region). The most recent ritual murder case in this region is the one reported above but also in August 2022 a man and his wife in Jinja District were arrested for killing their child in a ritual practice. In May 2021 police in Kayunga District had to protect a man from a mob threatening to kill him after he had allegedly killed two of his children for rituals purposes.

In July 2022 a spike was reported in human sacrifices. I’m afraid that the child sacrifice and other ritual murder cases mentioned in this report (see my July 11 posting) and the above mentioned murders are just the tip of the iceberg. After all, it is only logical to assume that not all ritual killing cases are being discovered or reported. An unknown number of children or elderly people, victims of ritualistic practices, may have disappeared without leaving traces.

Since 2021 convicted ritual murderers in Uganda may face the death penalty. In May parliament enacted the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Bill, 2020, which includes the capital punishment or life imprisonment for any person found guilty of human sacrifice. The bill inspired me to some reflections – see my May 7 posting.

Since the enactment of the bill a number of convicted ritual murderers have been sentenced to heavy sentences and many years in prison, but the ugly phenomenon has not been eradicated. It’s a sad reality.

Uganda: parents arrested for killing their child in ritual sacrifice

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Warning: the following may upset the reader because of the graphic details

A gruesome act. Parents who torture and kill their child in cold blood. Allegedly for ritualistic purposes. Why? It’s a mind-blowing question.
(webmaster FVDK)

Parents Arrested for Killing Their Child in Ritual Sacrifice

One of the suspects, Bosco Gudo, after being arrested

Published: August 19, 2022
By: Wambuzi Reacheal – Uganda Radio Network

Police in Kiira region on Friday confirmed the arrest of Bosco Gudo and his wife Eseza Musasizi over the killing of their  two and a half-year-old son Jordan Kitimbo sacrificial  rituals. 

32 year old Gudo and his wife Musasizi aged 21 years, both residents of Buwolelo village, in Buwenge sub-county, in Jinja district, are reported to have killed their son on Thursday.

The suspects are reported to have peeled off part of their son’s skin, extracted unknown quantities of blood in a bowl and immersed his lifeless body in hot water, as a means of covering up their crime. 

They later covered his remains in clean bedsheets before rushing them to Buwenge general hospital mortuary.

Their actions raised suspicion amongst residents who informed police, that in turn mounted a search in the house, where they recovered human parts suspected to be part of the deceased’s body.  

Perepetwa Namukose, a resident in the area, says that there was no reported fire outbreak at their neighbor’s house, yet the parents claimed that the toddler had succumbed to fire burns. “Our houses are close to each other, so it was hard for us to believe that Gudo’s son would succumb to burns, without any of us noticing anything,” Namukose says.  

On his part, the Kiira regional police spokesperson, James Mubi stresses that available reports indicate that these suspects have been mistreating Kitimbo, despite numerous cautioning from community members. 

Mubi says a team of detectives has been dispatched to expedite inquiries into the matter, adding that the suspects are being detained at Buwenge central police station. 

Source: Parents Arrested for Killing Their Child in Ritual Sacrifice