A couple spent the night in the cells at Kamuli central police station for allegedly causing the death of their six-year-old son.
The suspects are Godfrey Musenero and his wife, Viola Namwebya, both residents of Bususwa village, in Nabuwigulu sub-county.
They were picked up on Wednesday in connection to the death of their six-year-old son, Idhi Ekiritoyo. The minor’s body was recovered by residents from a shallow grave behind the suspect’s house.
Residents intervened to find the whereabouts of the minor when they spent two days seeing him outside the house.
They broke into the couple’s house where they first sighted a two-year-old girl tied up, whereas, Ekiritoyo was missing.
Residents ganged up against the couple forcing them to confess that they had buried him in a shallow grave behind the house. The residents alerted the police, which inspected the scene of the crime and arrested the suspects.
The couple is accused of starving their two children and locking them up in the house, which is suspected to have resulted in Ekiritoyo’s death.
The Busoga North Police Spokesperson, Michael Kasadha, says that the suspects face two counts of child neglect and murder.
He says that the couple was fond of starving and beating up their children unsparingly, prompting the intervention of officers from the Police Child and Family Protection Unit-CFPU.
The unit teamed up with well-wishers to donate food and other useful items to support the family, but the couple sold off the food relief and continued starving the minors.
Musenero has denied the allegations levelled against him, saying that the child died of unidentified sickness and they only buried him quietly for lack of funds to organize a decent funeral.