How serial killer ended life of Makerere student he suspected of cheating

KAMPALA, UGANDA: A man who was recently arrested on suspicion of killing a Makerere University student has reportedly said that the murder was out of vengeance after learning that she was promiscuous.

The 24-year-old girl identified as Jackline Nakabembe was killed and dumped in a trench in Naguru, close to a month ago. Her family reported a case of a missing person at Ntinda police station upon learning that she had not reported to her workplace at Wefunile Permit Company Limited after several days.

But in the process of hunting for her whereabouts, police tracked one of her mobile phones and it was found with a one Rasta, a resident of Naguru Go-Down. Upon interrogation, Rasta said he got the phone from Dickens Agumeneitwe and led police to his home where police also found her passport-size photos. By this time, Nakabembe had already been buried in the KCCA cemetery in Bukasa, Wakiso district.

Agumeneitwe told the police at the time that he did not know the person they were looking for, although he kept giving contradicting accounts about their encounter. This forced Police surgeons to subject him to a mental examination which concluded that he was of sound mind. He was subsequently detained at Kira Road police division and later transferred to Flying Squad headquarters at Kampala Central police station CPS.

Upon further interrogation, Agumeneitwe explained that he suspected that Nakabembe was cheating on him and decided to trick her using a phone that was unknown to her while pretending to be another person. To his surprise, he says, the girl did not stop the ‘strangers’ advances and kept leading him on until they agreed to meet.

“When she reached where I was and noticed that I had disguised as a new boyfriend, she knelt and started apologizing. I held her hand as we headed to my home. But I decided to sit with her under the tree. It was at that spot that I gave her a heavy punch near the heart and she immediately stopped breathing,” Agumeneitwe said.

Agumeneitwe said he pulled her into the trench where her body was found. Investigators have since established that Agumeneitwe is a serial rapist who has been arrested and charged on various occasions. He was out of jail mid-this year after spending nearly four years in Luzira prison.

“…If he is not arrested over rape, he is arrested over the robbery. He sometimes gets ‘lighter’ sentences and comes out quickly. His latest conviction had kept him in jail for nearly four years,” a senior security officer at Flying Squad explained.

Agumeneitwe had pinned three other people who helped him in the murder of Nakabembe. But police have since established these people didn’t know his acts since he had just rented a new house in Naguru Go-Down and they didn’t know his criminal side.

Nakabembe was due to graduate from Makerere University next year with a degree in development economics. The family demanded that the sister’s employers needed to be interrogated because they learned that Nakabembe was missing and also allegedly got to know about her death but they did not report it.

A senior police officer has said many serial criminals target university and high school students whom they hoodwink by wearing nice clothes and perfumes. They sometimes drive hired cars and often give some good money to the girls.