Residents of Habutobere village, in Rubanda district are in shock after their colleague burnt his wife and their three children to death.
The Kigezi Police spokesperson, Elly Mate, said Armstrong Vian, a renowned businessman in the area set his home ablaze last night using petrol. This, according to police, emanated from a quarrel over intentions to marry a second wife.
Mate has identified the victims as Muheki Lovinah 43, Edwin 17, Westlife15 and Akira aged five. The quartet was burnt beyond recognition since the suspect used petrol to lit the house on fire as most of the residents were already asleep because of curfew time.
“It’s alleged that they had family wrangles for long that caused the man to marry a second wife. On the fateful day, [last evening] the man [Armstrong] was sighted at fuel station buying petrol. Reached home locked them inside and that one of the immediate neighbor so that doesn’t come out and help them,” Mate said.
Uganda president Yoweri Museveni imposed a 9pm curfew in an attempt to control the spread of Covid19. This makes people be in their beds early thus few who can respond to an alarm raised by a neighbour in case of a problem.
Rubanda District Police Commander- DPC Assistant Superintendent of Police –ASP Echonga visited the crime scene and commenced the investigations. ASP Echonga and his team have embarked on the hunt for Armstrong.
The 2020 police crime report shows that 12 people were killed in Uganda every day. However, domestic violence contributed the biggest number of all murders recorded in the twelve months of last year.