110-year-old accused of killing wife speaks out

Our reporter visited the suspect in hospital where health workers said he was responding well to medication.
He recounted their altercation and physical fighting prior to his wife’s death, saying he regretted how things ended.

“It was because of a domestic disagreement, we constructed a good house, I thought I would have peace and enjoy it, but she separated the beds and decided to sleep in a different room,” the suspect, whose name we are holding for legal reasons, said.

He added: “I tried to convince her to come and we always sleep together in one bedroom and leave the other for the guests, but she refused. I put all my effort but she refused. I became too angry.” 
The statements made to this publication do not in any way imply guilt as that is a preserve of the courts of law.
Quoting witness accounts, police told this publication that the accused cut his wife to death using a pruning knife. 

“According to police preliminary investigations the suspect and the deceased were a married couple staying in the same house but sleeping in separate rooms, and that the act of violence was as a result of denial of conjugal rights,” Mr Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi regional police spokesperson, said.
The great granddaughter, 12, who was sleeping in the same room with the deceased, narrated that on the fateful morning, the suspect ordered her out before killing her grandmother.

“He forced me out of the room to go and buy milk from neighbours but still I feared moving out, I hid and remained in house, he entered the room where grandmother was sleeping, after a few minutes, he moved out to his room and came back with a pruning knife,” she narrated.
The daughter added that when she re-entered her grandmother’s room, she heard them fighting “I tried to enter and find out what was happening but grandfather threatened to kill me if I came near; I went out and started making an alarm, my uncle’s wife came but also could not save her,” she narrated.
Ms Caroline Kyasiimire, a granddaughter-in-law, who was the first to respond to the alarm, said she entered the room and found the suspect hitting the deceased.

“I found him hitting her hard over the head using a pruning knife, saying, ‘let me kill you and I become a widower at least’ when I approached, he raised it to hit me also I dodged him, he hit her last, I came from behind, grabbed him, took the pruning knife from him and led him to his room and locked it,” she said.

“I returned to Kuku (grandmother) who was gasping, she breathed her last as I witnessed, trying to save her,” Ms Kyasiimire added.
She confirmed that the couple had for long had a disagreement over not sharing the same bedroom and that Babiiha would express it openly at home, at times cursing the wife.

“He would be seated at the veranda and look at her and start cursing, we never understood that it could go to this extent, we laughed it off as mere jokes. The two were too old for us to imagine such a disagreement would turn ugly like this,” she added.

Ntungamo Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Mucunguzi said they will continue to sensitise residents on how to deal with domestic misunderstandings.

Counsellor speaks
Mr Alex Kibirige, a family counsellor in Mbarara City, said most times the elderly people are left in isolation but need psychological care.
“When children grow up they leave their parents’ home, even though they provide everything such as food, good houses and medical care, the old persons need to be cared for psychologically. Old people need to be visited and know they are loved, here they will be able to open up on some of the challenges they face,” he said.