Relatives of 25-year-old Monica Nabukenya in Mpigi district were shocked to learn of the gruesome murder of their daughter by her Israeli man who killed her and hid her remains in a septic tank after the DNA test result of their child returned negative.
Read Wated, 58, a resident of Kalagala Village in Mpigi District first reported a case of the disappearance of his wife on July 16, 2023, at Kayabwe Police Station, allegedly intending to divert the investigation.
But as fate would have it , Nabukenya’s relatives, who had also received reports of her ‘disappearance’, arrived at the same police station, asserting that Wated knew of her whereabouts.
This prompted detectives together with Wateed and his in-laws to visit the couple’s home in Kalagala Village, Kayabwe Town Council, Mpigi District on Monday evening.
“When we entered the gate, a foul smell welcomed us and it is at this point that the man revealed to detectives that he had actually killed my sister after a DNA test proved that he is not the biological father of the baby girl,” Ms Royce Nayiga, the deceased’s sister, says.
Wated later led detectives to a septic tank in the compound where he had dumped Nabukenya’s body.
Ms Nayiga says Nabukenya had earlier disclosed to them that she had misunderstandings with Wated over the paternity of their six-month-old baby and when she was reported missing, they sensed something was amiss.
“We thought they would resolve their issues as wife and husband but we were shocked to receive information that he had killed her,” she says.
The DNA Test
According to police, it is alleged that Wated suspected Nabukenya of infidelity which prompted him to take their 6-month-old child for a Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) test.
When he returned home and after some confrontations, police say he decided to kill his wife and dump her body in a septic tank in their compound, and partially covered the corpse with soil.
“In the process of interrogation, detectives at Kayabwe Police Station asked the suspect to take them to his home. On their arrival, they were hit by a stench of a decomposing body. They searched and found it in a septic tank. After questioning, Taheed admitted to killing his wife because of the negative DNA test results,” the police statement said on Monday.
Locals speak out
Richard Ddumba, the chairperson of Kalagala Village, Kayabwe Town Council, said the couple has been living a private life until recently when he received information that they had disagreed over the paternity of a six-month-old baby.
“What I know is, the couple had only one baby, when the man received rumours that the baby belonged to another man, he took the child for a DNA test which proved that he is not the real father,” he said.
Ddumba said a distressed a distressed Wated approached him four months ago saying he was pushing for a divorce but court was yet to pronounce itself on the matter when the murder happened.
“As he was pushing to secure divorce through court, I got shocked to learn that he had allegedly killed the wife already,” he said.
Ddumba says Nabukenya’s body was found naked and had started to decompose, suspecting that the murderer might have taken place either last Thursday or Friday.
Ms Jesca Nabisubi, another neighbour, says the wife had opted to leave her husband’s house and stayed with relatives in Kayabwe Town.
“But last Thursday, I was surprised to see her at their home together with the baby and I learnt later that the husband had invited her to resolve their differences as a couple,” she says.
Ms Nabisubi says the deceased always moved with her baby and was surprised to see the suspect carrying the child last Thursday.
“So, later on Friday when I saw the husband feeding the baby, I got suspicious because it was the woman always carrying the baby,” Nabisubi explains
According to Nabisubi, the victim was running a supermarket that Wated established for her.
What Police says
Mr Stephen Mwogezi, the village defence secretary, says the suspect became a resident a decade ago after buying a plot of land where he constructed a house.
“Unlike many foreigners who keep renting apartments, that man bought a plot and built a house. He later married that woman and were staying together, previously they had a helper, but had left the home by the time of the incident,” he says.
The Katonga Regional Police commander, Mr Dauda Hirigi Were yesterday said that the suspect was yesterday taken to his home to reconstruct the scene. The suspect was also yet to record an extra-judicial statement.
“He confessed that he killed the wife because what she did to sire a child with another man is an abomination in their culture,” he says,
Nabukenya had two children prior to marrying Raed according to preliminary police investigations and account of information from relatives.
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