A grandmother shocked Kabalagala residents, in Kampala, when she strangled to death her granddaughter and also hanged herself. The Saturday incident happened at Okirigi zone, Kabalagala parish, in Makindye division, in Uganda’s capital.
Luke Owoyesigyire, the deputy Kampala police spokesperson, identified the grandmother as Farida Namutosi 47, while the strangled granddaughter was called Jemima Karungi. Police say the granddaughter was only nine months old.
Namutosi was found hanging dead in her single-roomed house made of timber and supported by metallic poles. Karungi’s body was found on the floor in the same room. Police have since been informed by locals that Namutosi was taking care of Karungi, along with her 8-year-old stepson, Shakuru Sekyanzi.
The incident happened when her husband Hussein Saddam had gone to work. Locals have said that Namutosi first sent out Sekyanzi to play as she prepared tea. But when the boy returned, he found his step-grandmother hanging on a metallic pole.
Sekyanzi alerted his mother, Edita Karuhanga, who rushed to the scene and discovered the tragic news that Karungi had also passed away. Locals’ and police observations suggest that Namutosi first strangled Karungi before taking her own life.
Police officers from Kabalagala police station were dispatched to the crime scene and they recorded statements from witnesses. Namutosi and Karungi’s bodies were taken to City Mortuary Mulago for a postmortem.
However, police are yet to establish what prompted Namutosi to kill her granddaughter and also exterminate her own life. Incidents of people committing suicide are synonymous in Kampala and some jump to death from buildings including the country’s national hospital Mulago.