Police Constable Canan Idube Kisambira, a traffic officer attached to Mbirizi Police Station in Lwengo District is on the run after attempting to kill his girlfriend using a panga.
Justine Namuganga, a businesswoman and phone dealer in Masaka District, is now admitted to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital with deep cuts on her head, over the eyes and nose as well as hand.
The Saturday morning attack happened in Sekulo Village, Kamonkoli Sub-county in Budaka District.
According to the regional police commander of Greater Masaka, Mr Enock Abaine, a case of robbery and attempted murder against PC Idude at Kamonkoli Police Station in Budaka District.
“We have been contacted from Mbale about the same person but he has not reported back to work,” Mr Abaine told the Press.
Namuganga, who was speaking from her hospital bed says she travelled with Idude, who was supposedly her lover, from Masaka to Mbale in order to buy phones for sale on Friday.
“He was my friend and he knew I was dealing in phones, so he convinced me to raise some money and travel to Busia in eastern Uganda to buy phones at a cheaper price,” she told a local daily.
“We left Masaka at 2pm on Friday in my car together with his brother, who we left in Iganga District. From Iganga, we drove on to Mbale and arrived at 8pm. I suggested we book a hotel, but Idube said he would not sleep in a hotel, but go home to spend the night. He drove for some good distance and I became increasingly scared. We passed through deserted places without any sign of a house or settlement. It was now late and pitch dark. I asked him what time it was and he said it was 2.30am. We drove off until we reached a remoter place where I could no-longer see any houses. He drove for a distance again and parked outside an iron-roofed house. He said my car would be parked overnight at that house, so I asked him to knock on the door but he refused. He asked to take out my bag and we walk out. I refused to get out, prompting him to drive on until we came to a junction and he parked the vehicle again on the roadside. He told me to pick up my bag and he also got out his bag. I was surprised to see him pull a panga from his bag.”
According to Namuganga, when she asked him what the panga was for, he said there was a fierce dog at his home that was troublesome.
They then walked for a short distance and came to the compound with iron-roofed house.
“He told me to squat in a nearby bush as he goes to knock on the door, claiming he did not want his mother to see me. I refused because he wanted to leave me there as he goes to open. He tried to use both hands to push me to the ground, but I resisted,” she narrates, adding that she did not see why he wanted her to squat.
She however did squat that is when he pounced, swinging his sharp panga and cut her on the head, the right eye, nose and right hand.
He would go on to cut her on the fore head and in the face before fleeing with her bag that contained Shs11 million.
She says she staggered towards the house but collapsed midway and was only saved in the morning when the lady of the house woke up.
“She, together with two other women and a bodaboda man rushed me to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.”
The doctors examined her and found that the cuts had not affected the bones but she is afraid Idube might sneak into hospital and finish her off.
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