Four machete assailants arrested in Kawempe

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police have arrested four men suspected to have robbed and raped a woman in Kawempe division, Kampala city. The Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire identifies the suspects as Joseph Katabi, Mike Sserwada, John Musana and another only identified as Musinguzi.

According to preliminary police findings, the machete-wielding thugs broke into the premises of the 23-year-old woman in Kikubo zone, Kawempe Division in the wee hours of Monday. They robbed her property before raping her. Police tracked down the suspects with the help of a sniffer dog.

Salium Sseggumba, the Kitambuza zone defence secretary in the neighbourhood where the suspects were found hiding, says that the thugs knew their victim well and were fully aware that her husband was away from home on a trip.

“They gained access to the victim’s home by jumping over the fence and unbolting her door silently while the security guard was also sleeping. She was in deep sleep, they woke her up with a knife and threatened to kill her she made any alarm,” Sseggumba told URN. He explained that the thugs have mastered the movement of police patrol, which they use to their advantage to terrorize residents.

According to Owoyesigyire, the victim reported the matter to Kawempe police station on Tuesday morning. He explains that officers from the station working the canine section introduced a police sniffer dog, which tracked down the suspects for a distance of 250m from the crime scene.  “The police dog- Boela entered a structure that was harbouring four men who were arrested immediately. The victim was able to identify the suspects by the clothes they were wearing during the night attack,” Owoyesigyire said.

He explains that after searching the premises, police recovered a number of rudimentary weapons such as knives, pangas and narcotic substances. Owoyesigyire says the suspects who are currently in custody at Kawempe Police station on cases of aggrieved robbery and rape robbed their victim of Shillings 850,000, a phone and laptop.

Joseph Ssebambulide, the chairperson of Nsoba zone also in the neighbourhood, says that the fresh machete attacks in Kawempe and Nansana are worrying. He blames police for not doing enough sensitization campaigns to promote neighbourhood watch.

Over 400 suspected criminals have been arrested in the ongoing operations against a new spate of pang-wielding attacks within the Kampala Metropolitan areas in the past two weeks.

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URN