Assistant Commissioner of Police –ACP Anatoli Muleterwa, has linked the rising domestic killings in Kigezi region to frustrations caused by novel Corona Virus Disease.
ACP Muleterwa, who is the head of community policing in Ugandan police force, has pitched camp in Kigezi region after being instructed by the Inspector General of Police Martin Ochola.
In his stay in Kigezi, Muleterwa will also focus on community policing and neighbourhood watch as one of the ways heinous domestic killings and other crimes can be minimized in the area.
“As a result of Covid-19, some individuals within this community have become hopeless. Some have started committing heinous crimes. They see no hope. But we want to rally behind the support of the community because when somebody begins to contemplate killing his family there are signs that people and local leaders can look out for,” ACP Muleterwa said.
Several districts in Kigezi among others Kisoro Kabale, Kanungu and Rukungiri have registered heinous domestic killings. In some cases one person kills his entire family.
Last week in Kisoro, a man last week hacked four of his own family members to death. Gerald Ndikumukiza, has admitted killing his wife Maliserina Mujawimana 26, his mother Bonconsira Nyiraguhirwa 75, father Deogratius Sebitama 80, and sister in-law Joan Nyiramana 20.
Elly Mate, said Ndikumukiza and his victims were all residents of Kageyo village, Busengo Parish, Nyarubuye Subcounty, Kisoro district. The suspect was living with the victims in the same house. He confessed to police that he hacked his relatives to death because they allocated him a sloping site to construct his house, a terrain he found unsuitable for construction. .
Muleterwa has also called upon Local authorities in Kigezi region to work hand in hand with the security agencies as one way of fighting against the spread of #COVID-19 along border lines.
“We realized that the only way to prevent Covid and enforcement of presidential directives can only be effective by mobilising the community and their leaders, by mobilising the communities and sensitizing them on issues of how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, step up vigilance, alertness on borders and patterning to fight other general crimes and ensure there is community support, as you are aware the nature of the borders along these areas being porous in nature,” he said.