Nakaseke, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | Police in Nakaseke have initiated a search for an unidentified man who, tragically, lured a six-year-old pupil while she was on her way back from school, defiled her, and killed her.
According to ASP Sam Twiineamazima, the police spokesperson for the Savannah region, this harrowing incident happened on Friday 20, October 2023 around 2 pm in Kirangazi village, Katugo parish, Ngoma subcounty, within Nakaseke district.
“It’s alleged that as the victim was coming back from school together with her fellow school pupils, the suspect told the victim to enter the farm along the road and help in lifting the firewood. Immediately, the rest of the pupils had the victim crying once and they run way where they later informed ascertain man of what has happened,” ASP Twiineamazima said in a statement.
The victim, Happy Komugisha, a six-year-old pupil at Apex Model Primary School, had been returning home from school with other four pupils at the time.
The alleged perpetrator approached the victim and requested her assistance in carrying firewood into a nearby bush path as she was walking with her fellow pupils. Soon after, the other pupils heard the victim’s distress and fled the scene. They later informed an adult about the distressing incident.
Tragically, the assailant sexually assaulted the six-year-old victim and subsequently struggled her to death using her nicker. Upon receiving information about the incident from Moses Ntegeka, a local resident, the police responded promptly to the situation.
“I quickly rushed to Katuugo Police Post and reported the incident. The children revealed that the man who convinced Happy Komugisha to go and help him lift the firewood was not known to them. The children heard Komugisha crying and ran away in fear,” Mr Ntegeka said in an interview.
Mr Ntegeka said the stranger took advantage of the bushy path and long distance that the children walk to their school from their respective homes.
Ms Jovan Kemirembe, the mother of the deceased girl revealed that her daughter always moved in company of other children to school and had cautioned her against walking alone.
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“It is likely that the attacker targeted my daughter and possibly knew her very well. We had no nearby school and the children have been crossing through a busy farm path to access the school. It is unfortunate that my daughter was kidnapped and killed,” she said on Saturday 21, October 2023.
The crime scene was meticulously examined, documented, and the victim’s body underwent a thorough examination by medical professionals.
Statements from witnesses were recorded, and a murder case has been officially opened.
The four children that survived the attack were aged between 4 and 6 years but could not identify the stranger, Mr Abby Mugisha, the defence secretary of Kirangazi Village revealed.
The search for the suspect is ongoing, as law enforcement diligently works to bring the perpetrator to justice.
