By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
BUSHENYI
A police investigation into the recent kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl in Bushenyi district has revealed that the child’s mother, Adrian Kyarimpa, was involved in the crime.
On September 26, a case of child kidnapping was reported at Bushenyi Central Police Station after the parents of Sasha Itungo, a P2 pupil at Kanungu Primary School, reported that their daughter had been abducted. Sasha had been sent to a nearby trading center, about 400 meters from home, to buy cooking oil when she went missing.
SSP Martial Tumusiime, the Greater Bushenyi Police spokesperson, told reporters that a stranger had called the victim’s father, Herbert Byamukama, also known as Kajubi, and threatened to harm the child if he reported the incident to the police. According to Tumusiime, the caller’s threat was motivated by past grievances with Byamukama, which the father denied knowledge of.
“On their way to the police station,” SSP Tumusiime recounted, “a certain phone number called the father and told him, ‘You Kajubi (a nickname for the father), what you did to me while in Bwera is what I will do to your child. Don’t go to the police because I will kill the child if you do.’”
The caller, using the number 0789253817 registered to Donosio Bejura, ended the call abruptly when the father asked for more details. The caller continued to warn the parents not to involve the police and eventually switched off his phone, leaving the parents in shock.
Tumusiime stated that police were tracking the phone number and collecting call data to identify the suspects and recover the victim.
However, in a surprising twist, Uganda Police Force spokesperson Kituma Rusoke revealed in a media briefing on Monday, October 30, 2024, that the child’s mother was implicated in the kidnapping. Rusoke disclosed that the kidnappers had demanded an 8 million shilling ransom from the father for the child’s release, and further investigation revealed that the mother was involved in orchestrating the crime.
