By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
LUWERO:
Police in Luwero is holding in custody a man alleged to be son to the famous Kanungu massacre, Joseph Kibwetere on allegations of torture and child neglect.
The suspect is Juvenal Rugambwa, 57, a resident of Kilambula village in Zirobwe sub-county Luwero district.
He was arrested together with his wife Winnie Rugambwa after residents reported to police that they had dug a grave to bury a child aged 10 years who was still alive.
The LC 3 chairman of Zirobwe sub-county, Sperito Kiroli said residents were concerned after seeing men digging a grave inside Rugambwa’s home and later heard a child crying.
According to Kiroli, concerned residents stealthily jumped into the fence and Rugambwa suspiciouly took on heels after noticing that residents had jumped into his fenced home.
An open grave and the child covered in a tarpaulin were discovered by the residents who immediately notified the police.
Kiroli says that residents believe that Rugambwa had planned to kill the child and bury her at night.
The Savannah Regional Police Spokesperson, Isah Ssemwogerere says that when police visited the home of Rugambwa, they found the open grave and the child who was sick isolated in a special room.
Ssemwogerere explains that Rugambwa told police that he dug the grave to bury the sick child in case she died because efforts to treat her had not yielded any positive results.
Police rescued the malnourished sick child with support from FIDA and she was transferred to Luwero hospital for treatment. Police further recovered grazing tortoises and several cats among other things in Rugambwa’s home.
The two prime suspects (Rugambwa and his wife) have been arrested and are currently being detained at Luwero Central Police Station.
“We have preferred charges of child neglect and torture against the parents. We are now waiting for State Attorney to sanction the charges before we present them to court,” Ssemwogerere said.
About Kibwetere:
In 2000, Rugambwa was pictured holding a photograph of his father Kibwetere and mother at their family house located at Kabumba village in Kanungu.
Kibwetere was a leader of the Movement for Restoration of the Ten Commandments, a cult that believed the world would come to an end at the turn of the millennium.
The infamous cult locked 778 of its members in Kanungu district inside a church and with the doors sealed and windows nailed, they set it ablaze.
Hundreds of other bodies believed to be victims of the same cult were subsequently found in mass graves at different locations such as in Rushojwa/Nyakishojwa in Kabira subcounty Ruhinda county Mitooma district, Buziga Kampala and the home of Kibwetere in Ntungamo.
