"According to Children’s Statute, as long as a child is above 12 years, they
can be tried. “The only difference if she is found guilty will be in the
sentence. It could be a life or death sentence,” Mr Mpanga said."
Can you readers believe that? Minors face death sentence in Uganda. What does a
12 or 15 year old know about life at that age when the glass is just about 3/4
empty?
Ocii
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15-year-old girl kills boy over disco snub
Joseph Mugisa & Grace Natabaalo
Kabarole/Kampala
The old adage ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ tragically came to life
in Fort Portal town last Saturday after a 15-year-old girl, who was shunned by
her lover on the dance floor, ended his life.
This was during a farewell party for Senior Four candidates of Mpanga Secondary
School. The girl (names withheld because she is a minor), who is senior two
student at the same school, allegedly stabbed 18-year-old Tadeo Bukya in a
jealous fit.
“We are holding the young girl in our custody to help us in our
investigations,” the Regional Police Commander (RPC) Western, Mr Martin Abilu,
told Daily Monitor on Sunday.
At Bukya’s burial in Rwengoma village yesterday, tears flowed as family,
friends and schoolmates mourned the fallen boy, who was due to sit his Senior
Four examinations in a week’s time.
Bukya’s sibling, who spoke at the brother’s funeral, said, “We have not only
lost a brother but we have lost a very great friend who has left a gap that
will never be filled. Pray for us.”
The bereaved father, Mr Paul Kabonabingi, a retired army private now working
with Rwenzori Commodities, said his son’s death had robbed him off a useful
asset.
“He has been very obedient, very disciplined and very hardworking,” Mr
Kabonabingi, whose name translates into ‘I have seen alot’ told mourners,
before breaking down.
The late Bukya.
A heavy downpour interrupted the burial that was attended by hundreds of
mourners. It was as if even the heavens were mourning the tragic loss.
Bukya met his fate at a farewell party organised for students due to sit senior
four examinations. It turned out to be his last party.
Eyewitnesses say the party had started well, with a luncheon. After lunch, the
students went to the hall where they were set to dance till evening.
Since Mpanga SS is a mixed day school, students from other classes had also
been involved in the preparation and were allowed into the dance hall, which
explains the presence of a senior two student at a senior four students’ event.
But the dancing was brought to a sudden halt at around 4pm, shortly after it
had started.
The girl apparently walked up to Bukya and asked to dance with him, an offer he
declined. Students say the two had been lovers but Bukya had decided to go slow
on the relationship as his exams approached.
Bukya, however, rubbed salt in the wounded heart when – shortly after turning
down the girl –went and asked another student to dance with him. As the duo
danced, the jilted girl reportedly went over and tried to separate them by
force but failed.
IN MOURNING: Bukya’s brother and sister at the burial ceremony in Fort Portal
yesterday. PHOTO BY JOSEPH MUGISHA
In a fit of anger, she rushed to the school kitchen where she picked a knife
that had been used to prepare food for the day’s festivities and returned to
the dance hall, where she stabbed Bukya in the neck. Students say they saw
their colleague fall down with blood gushing out of his neck.
She then reportedly fled as the other students gathered around their injured
colleague, whom they tried to rush to the hospital. He died before he could get
attention at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital, Buhinga.
Shocked by Bukya’s sudden demise, the students, who carried the body of their
dead colleague out of the hospital after he was pronounced dead, turned their
anger on one of their own teachers who they met in the town centre and beat him
up. The un-named teacher is currently hospitalised.
The students then continued to the girl’s home at Bukwali village, East
Division in Fort Portal Municipality, but were stopped from attacking it by the
timely intervention of the Police.
A sombre mood hung over the school and its immediate vicinity from Sunday as
the school administration and students tried to come to terms with the weekend
incident.
Officials from the school, fearing a backlash from either angry students or
other mourners, kept the school gates closed to the students and did not even
attend burial place, although they sent in Shs200, 000 for funeral
arrangements.
MP Steven Kaliba called upon the school authorities to put in place enough
security to ensure that such situations do not occur again.
The girl, though a minor, is likely to face murder charges.
According to Mr David Mpanga a city lawyer and a member of Daily Monitor’s
panel of experts, the girl, at 15, is criminally liable for murder.
“A 15-year-old is capable of forming criminal intent and committing a crime.
She can be charged with murder or manslaughter depending on the case, but most
likely, she might be charged with murder,” Mr Mpanga told Daily Monitor
yesterday.
According to Children’s Statute, as long as a child is above 12 years, they can
be tried. “The only difference if she is found guilty will be in the sentence.
It could be a life or death sentence,” Mr Mpanga said.
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