JINJA –Police in Busoga North have mounted a search for Waiswa Katende, who is suspected to have killed a seven-year-old boy, John Isabirye after his parents failed to raise a Ugx50m ransom.
Waiswa is reported to have kidnapped Isabirye from her parent’s home in Bulyango village, on Saturday night at around 8:00pm. He subsequently made phone calls instructing Isabirye’s parents to pay him the ransom before midnight or risk losing their son.
Upon realising that the parents had failed to raise the ransom, he instructed them to give him Ugx80, 000, which would enable them to locate their son.
Isabirye was strangled and body dumped in a sugarcane plantation in Mutukula village, Namwendwa sub-county, Kamuli district. It is alleged that the kidnapper later called the child’s father, Robert Isabirye to alert him on where to find his son’s body, before switching off his phone.
The police picked –up the boy’s remains, and delivered the same to Kamuli General Hospital mortuary for post-mortem. Isabirye told journalists that Waiswa resides in the neighbouring village of Mutukula and he has been a daily fuel client from his retail stall, which contributed to the closeness with his children.
The father narrated that all his children were fond of Waiswa who would interact with them whenever he came to purchase petrol from a retail stall located outside their residential house and he suspects that the suspect lured the child from home on hospitality grounds, only to kill him.
Meanwhile, the Busoga North police spokesperson, Michael Kasadha revealed that efforts of hunting down the suspect had been boosted by intelligence agencies from other sister organs, which he said would ease his arrest. Kasadha added that Waiswa would face two counts of kidnap and murder.
Additional reporting by URN
