Pastor arrested over hacking pregnant wife to death in Namisindwa

A 48-year-old male pastor of Christ Church in Bukhabusi Sub-county in Namisindwa District has been arrested for brutally ending the life of his pregnant wife.

 The clergyma, who is a resident of Malukhu Village, Butiru Parish in the district’s Bukhabusi Sub-county, has been detained at Namisindwa Central police station for allegedly hacking his 44-year-old wife to death during a domestic fight.

According to a police report and interviews from neighbours, the suspect had on several occasions accused his deceased wife Agnes Mandala of cheating on him with another man in the neighbourhood.

Elgon Regional Police Spokesperson Rogers Taitika Thursday said the deceased's body was found lying dead on the banks of a deep stream of water on Wednesday. 

“It's alleged the deceased has been in concubining with a pastor and the two have been staying and moving together. She was killed and there were wounds seen on the surface of the spleen,” Taitika observed.

Postmortem reports revealed that the deceased was 22 weeks pregnant.

Taitika said a Police canine unit was introduced to the crime scene led investigators to the home of the suspect, from where he was arrested to aid in the investigations.

“The suspect was found with personal property of the deceased like a phone,” he said, adding that “couples should stop resorting to violence as a way of resolving matrimonial problems.”

The family and friends of the deceased and the church faithful, who were visibly devastated, asked police to conduct a speedy investigation into the incident.

Still on Thursday, Taitika decried the increasing cases of domestic violence in the Elgon region.

For instance, he said, from January to June 2023, police in the Elgon region registered 70 domestic violence and four murder cases as a result of domestic violence.

During the same period, police statistics indicate that the region registered 35 child torture cases, 50 cases of aggravated defilement, 29 rape cases, 371 defilement cases, 161 child neglect cases and about 531 reports of child desertion.

Speaking to Monitor, Mbale Senior Development Officer (DCDO) Baker Mwanya attributed the increasing Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases to poverty, traditional beliefs and lack of awareness, among other facts.

Bennah Namono, the head of Women activists in Bugisu Sub-region, said: “Most married women are now leaving in fear of what is happening to their fellow women. We need the government, especially security, to come in and save our women.”