Police arrest Kibwetere’s son attempting to bury child alive

LUWERO, UGANDA: Luwero police has arrested a man who claims to be the son of the famous Kanungu genocider Joseph Kibwetere over offences of torture and child neglect.

Juvenal Rugambwa, 57, a resident of Kilambula village in Zirobwe sub-county 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.

Sperito Kiroli, the LC 3 chairman of Zirobwe sub-county says that residents were concerned after seeing men digging a grave inside his wall fenced home and later had a child crying.

Kiroli said concerned residents stealthily jumped into the fence immediately after the man left, and saw the open grave and the child covered in a tarpaulin before they notified the police.

Kiroli says that residents believe that Rugambwa had planned to kill the child and bury her at night.

Isah Ssemwogerere, the Savannah Regional Police Spokesperson 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.

Ssemwogerere says that the malnourished sick child was rescued and with support from FIDA, she was transferred to Luwero hospital for treatment.

Ssemwogerere says that Rugambawa and his wife were also arrested and transferred to 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.

On searching Rugambwa’s home, police found grazing tortoises and several cats among other things.

Rugambwa on arrest told police and journalists that he is the second born of Joseph Kibwetere, the mass killer of Kanungu who burnt people alive in a church.

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.

Additional Reporting – URN