Unknown assailants early Friday morning stabbed to death a Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) soldier, L/Cpl John Aniko, at Lebngec Upper Village in Lungulu Sub -county, Nwoya District.
The Lungulu Sub-county LC 3 Chairman, Mr Denis Atube, told Kazi-njema News that Aniko’s lifeless body was found laying on the road with a spear wedged into his stomach. The deceased also had a spear wound in the neck.
Mr Atube explained that a piece of cloth was found on the body creating an impression that the soldier seemed to had been trying to wrap it around his stomach in the struggle to save his life.
By publication time, no arrest had so far been made since all the people living near the crime scene had fled their homes.
“I got a call on the matter at around 4am and at around 9am I received information pronouncing him dead. Even when I rushed to the scene, all the neighbours had fled. The only evidence we found on the deceased’s body was a piece of Kitenge cloth that the deceased tried to tie around his stomach,” said Mr Atube.
The politician added that the deceased soldier had been guarding a farm belonging to Ms Rose Nyeko, the Nwoya District NRM party Chairperson.
When contacted, Ms Nyeko admitted that L/Cpl Aniko was guarding her farm describing him as a quiet soldier who never committed any crime in the area for the time he served there.
“The only thing I knew about him is that he used to drink alcohol and loved moving late in the night. Otherwise, he was a very quiet person,” Ms Nyeko told our reporter.
“What happened is really very horrible and I have never experienced it before. It is until now disturbing me psychologically,” she added.
Ms Nyeko said that the deceased’s colleague’s gun was reported missing from the house following the incident; suspecting that the assailant could have grabbed it before fleeing along with it.
“Aniko’s gun was left in the house but the gun for his colleague is the one missing and we suspect the attacker could be in the know” said Ms Nyeko.
Nwoya police arrived at the scene and took the body to Anaka General Hospital for postmortem.
Efforts to get a comment from the Nwoya District Police Commander, Mr Filbert Waibi, were futile as our repeated calls went unanswered.
However, when contacted, Maj Telesphor Turyamumanya, UPDF’s 4th Division army spokesperson confirmed the report adding that investigations into the matter were underway.
“We are investigating how he was stabbed and the circumstances under which the gun went missing.”
