Rubanda: Man murders his son to appease new wife

The Police in Rubanda District were on Sunday still holding a 30-year-old man for the alleged murder of his nine-year-old son after his new wife complained about him and asked for him to be taken away.     

Alledi Niwamanya, a resident of Mukangumira Cell in Hamurwa Sub County is alleged to have led the Police to Ruboroga Forest in Mpungu Parish where he had dumped the body of his son, Ankorite Ariho.  

According to the Police’s preliminary investigations, Niwamanya, who is being held at Rubanda Police Station is alleged to have developed misunderstandings with his first wife, forcing the couple to separate.  

The wife is said to have gone back to her parents’ home together with her two children.    

However, when Niwamanya married another wife, he went to his first wife and demanded that his children be returned, assuring her that the new wife would take care of them.  

However, according to a statement issued by Elly Maate, the Police spokesman for the Kigezi region, the new wife did not like the children and neighbours reported that she started mistreating them.  

They shared the information with the estranged wife who was incensed, withdrew the children from the father’s custody and instead took them to live with her mother.   

In June 2023, Niwamanya asked her to bring the children to visit him, which she consented to. But in July 2023, information surfaced that Ariho was missing which prompted residents to confront the father about the missing child.   

Maate said when the suspect learnt that residents were suspicious of him, he took the younger child back to the maternal grandmother in Rukiga District.  

Information had however reached her that one child had mysteriously disappeared and when Niwamanya arrived with only one child, according to Maate, the child’s grandmother confronted him and questioned him about the whereabouts of the second child.  

It was at this point that he told her that he had taken the child to his other relatives, but she instead sent out information to neighbours who came and immediately arrested him.  

“Upon interrogation by villagers, Niwamanya is alleged to have confessed to killing his son and for fear, dumped the body in a forest,” Maate explained.    

One of the residents, Jonah Tweyongyere on Saturday, September 9, fearing mob action against the suspect, called the Police at Hamurwa Police Station who quickly responded and took the suspect away from the angry residents.  

Maate said the suspect also offered to lead the Police to where he dumped the body, and an exhibit of a presumed human bone, which is suspected to be one of the body parts of the deceased, was recovered pending submission to the Police forensic department for analysis.  

The case was recorded as murder on CRB 340/2023.   

Maate condemned the act, wondering how a parent could pick the courage to kill his own child because his second wife did not like him.  

“The family is now in ruins, the father has lost a son and now he has been arrested and is likely going to suffer for life in jail. I advise parents to instead find an amicable way of handling such matters with local leaders or elders in a family instead of resorting to killing,” he said.

Maate added that the Police were finalising investigations before the suspect could be arraigned in court to answer for murder charges.