Mityana, (UG):- The Crime Intelligence operatives have apprehended two suspects in connection with the double murders that occurred in Kasega parish, Kapeke sub-county, Kiboga district on Thursday, April 4, 2024.
The suspects have been identified as Sulaiman Sentongo, 32 years old, a resident of Kirinda village, Kasega parish, Kapeke sub-county in Kiboga district, and Namuleme Maureen, 41 years old, a resident of Kisingiri cell, Namiremebe Bakuli Ward, Rubaga Division in Kampala.
The two suspects are alleged to have masterminded and participated in the murder of five-year-old Easter Nakasumba and her two-year-old sister, Sylvia Nantongo who went missing on Wednesday afternoon and their decapitated bodies were found the following day.
Following the gruesome murder incident, police detectives deployed a sniffer dog that led them to the home of Sulaiman Sentongo, one of the traditional doctors in the village, who had fled his home at the time.
“Operatives tracked Sulaiman Sentongo, a witch doctor, via phone and apprehended him in Kireka, Kampala, on the night of April 5, 2024, along with his associate Namuleme Maureen, who allegedly provided him with transport to flee the scene on April 4, 2024,” the Wamala Regional Police Spokesperson, Ms Rachael Kawala said in a Saturday Police statement.
She added that the suspects are currently detained at Kiboga Central Police Station interrogation, bringing the total number of arrests to three.
“Further details will be provided as investigations progress,” she said.
Kiboga Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Ms Mariam Nalubega Sseguya ordered a head count and identification programme aimed at registering all genuine traditional healers in the district.
Ms Nalubega said if well conducted, the exercise will help weed out quacks who have over the years infiltrated the traditional healers’ business and tarnished their image by engaging in felonious acts like child sacrifice, theft, robbery and rape.
“Many wrong elements are masquerading as traditional healers to achieve their ill intentions which has tarnished the name of herbalists in the country. We are going to have this census to weed out all fake traditional healers who are engaging in criminal activities,” she said while addressing a security meeting at Kirinda Village, Kiboga District on April 5.
The meeting was attended by internal security officers at all levels, village chairpersons and religious leaders.
Traditional healers have for a long time been blamed for the recurrent cases of child sacrifice and mysterious deaths especially in the central region, while some have been accused of raping women who visit their shrines.
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