By Sembabule District, Uganda– Residents of Kasaana C Village in Mateete Rural Sub County were horrified on Tuesday morning when the bodies of two children were discovered in a pit latrine. The victims, Julius Asiimwe, 2, and Andrew Jjunju, 6, had been kidnapped on June 10 and July 2, respectively, by unknown individuals who demanded ransoms from their parents before murdering the children. Preliminary police investigations indicate that the victims were buried in the pit latrine by their killers.
Mr. Steven Mwesigye, the father of Asiimwe and a resident of Kyambulala Village in Kinwyamazi Parish, Mateete Rural Sub County, reported his child’s kidnapping to Mateete Police Station, prompting a fruitless police search. Asiimwe went missing around 10 p.m. on June 10. “He walked out of the house for a short call, and we did not see him again,” Mwesigye recounted.
On July 3, a similar incident was reported in the same area by Ms. Betty Zalwango, Jjunju’s aunt, after Jjunju was kidnapped on his way home from St. Herman Kasana Primary School. She reported the matter to the police, initiating another search.
According to Mr. Twaha Kasirye, the southern regional police spokesperson, local police, assisted by detectives from the Flying Squad, tracked the mobile phone used by the kidnappers to demand a ransom from the victims’ families. This led to the arrest of the suspects, who subsequently directed detectives to an abandoned pit latrine where the children’s bodies were buried.
“Both bodies had started decomposing. Jjunju’s body was found without a tongue and lips, still in his school uniform. Julius’s body was in skeleton form, missing eyes, tongue, and mouth. It appeared they were sacrificed for ritual purposes,” Kasirye said. The police recovered the bodies and took them for postmortem examination. A total of eight suspects have been arrested in connection with the double murder of the children.
“The eight suspects have provided information about the suspected ritual sacrifices. As police, we strongly condemn such heinous acts resurfacing in our community,” Kasirye added. He noted that the suspects will face multiple charges, including kidnapping, murder, and human sacrifice, upon conclusion of the police investigation.
Incidents of suspected human sacrifices are not uncommon in Uganda. On July 4, the body of two-year-old Samali Namuyomba was found in a maize plantation in Wabigalo Cell, Mityana Municipality. The plantation belongs to the wife of a witch doctor. Three suspects, including two women and one man, remain in custody at Mityana Central Police Station to assist with the investigation.
In a similar case, authorities in the neighboring Kiboga District recovered the mutilated bodies of five-year-old Esther Nakasumba and her two-year-old sister, Sylvia Natongo, from a brick furnace near Kasinina Elimu Church. The children had gone missing on April 3 after being sent home for lunch by their parents.
The Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act 2021 criminalizes human sacrifice and financing the practice, with a death penalty upon conviction. Attempting to commit or finance the offense, as well as promoting the belief in human sacrifice for financial gain, attracts a life imprisonment sentence.
Some individuals who visit shrines claim traditional healers use human remains to cast spells on their clients’ enemies, although these claims are not scientifically proven or elaborately explained by practitioners.
