www.Kisii.Com: Syndicated news from only reputable sources [Nation, and Standard Newspapers, Kenya Times, KBC, etc.]

Shock as Kenyan student is brutally killed in Uganda

Details

Published on Monday, 24 November 2008 10:21

Mystery surrounds the killing of a Kenyan student, whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in Uganda. Police in Uganda have confirmed she had earlier lost Sh40,000 in unclear circumstances.

Her Kenyan boyfriend has since been arrested as the key suspect. Kampala Police suspect she was killed for demanding back her money, after she discovered it was missing.

Relatives and friends lay flowers on Ruth Oirere’s grave in Gucha.

She was strangled before being fatally knifed at a guesthouse in Kampala, police say.

Ms Oirere, 23, was a first year Education student at Bugema University, while her boyfriend studied Information Technology at Makerere University.

Her body was exhumed and later accorded a tearful burial at her parents’ home at Igorera village in Gucha on Sunday.

Ugandan media reported that Oirere went missing from her University on 1st November this year.

Before she left, she reportedly informed a friend that she was going to collect money from her boyfriend at Makerere, 35 kilometers away. Her naked body was later discovered in a bathroom in a guesthouse in Kawaala in the outskirts of Kampala city on 4th November.

Kampala city council staff buried the body in a mass grave the following day because local mortuaries did not have freezers. The body was exhumed on Friday, four days after burial and ferried to her home. Mourners were not allowed to view the body. Emotions ran high at the funeral, with mourners threatening to lynch the suspected killer’s family.

The slain student

A family source said they believed the alleged killer had conned Ms Oirere of Sh40,000.

"On the day she reported to the campus, a friend offered to show her how to bank the fees. He is said to have banked Sh500 out of the Sh 40,000. Ms Oirere was satisfied that she had cleared fee and was surprised to be called by the university accounts department, accused with forgery.

Mr Keith Tibenda, who represented the university administration at the funeral, told The Standard that the accountants discovered an anomaly in the student’s receipt while reconciling records and sent an enquiry to the bank.

"It was discovered that an equivalent of USh12,000 was deposited but digits were added in handwriting before and after the figure to make USh1,120000 on the bank slip presented and a receipt issued," he said.

He added: "It is criminal for a student to forge documents but since it was nearing graduation, no action was taken as the business office was busy clearing finalists. It is then that the student may have discovered what had happened and went looking for the boyfriend."

The suspect was arrested at Douglas Villa Hostel in Makerere. Mr Tibenda claimed the suspect made a confession before the university’s vice chancellor and later to police and admitted killing the student to conceal the matter. He was arraigned at Mwanga II magistrate’s court charged with murder but case will be mentioned on 28th at the High Court. The accused is at Luzila maximum prison," Tibenda said.

He dispelled fears that security of students at the university was at stake. He is a well known person to me and even assisted my daughter obtain admission in Uganda. I only leave this to God," said deceased’s mother Mrs Rhoda Oirere. We want justice, our government should liaise with Ugandan authorities to ensure the killer does not escape punishment," said Salome Oirere, 28, a sister.

Students who requested anonymity accused the Kenyan embassy in Kampala of being ‘uncooperative’ in the issue. Mr David Ochieng Owino, president of Kenyan Students Union at Bugema University, described the incident as most unfortunate.