A 28-year-old woman in Hoima has killed her 35-year-old husband accusing him of purportedly infecting her with an incurable Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
The Albertine region police spokesperson, Julius Allan Hakiza on Thursday identified the deceased as Emmanuel Tumusiime, resident of Kigorobya Town Council in Hoima District.
The police officer told this website that the woman, whose identity is protected by the law told the police that she found her deceased husband secretly swallowing what she suspected to be Anti-Retroviral (ARV) pills.
He said on inquiry, the woman learnt that the man was swallowing ARVs. In a frenzy, she picked up an axe, hit her husband on the head and died instantly.
Hakiza said after killing her husband, the woman jumped on a boda-boda motorcycle, rushed and handed herself to Hoima Central Police Station, informing the officers how she had committed the offence.
The police spokesperson said the woman will be arraigned before court to answer charges of murder.
After a postmortem report, police handed the deceased’s body to the relatives for burial.
However, by press time, it was still unknown whether the woman went for blood screening to ascertain whether she was infected or not.
Medical researchers say once one adheres to swallowing the ARVs, their viral load is suppressed and cannot transmit the virus to their sexual partners.
Also, there are reported cases of discordance among married couples with one carrying the virus while the other living free from it.
When asked whether Hoima police had ever registered cases of the same nature, Hakiza denied.
However, he said there could be some unreported silent violent conflicts among married couples arising from partners’ infecting each other with the virus.
The police officer advises couples to always go along with their partners for blood screening to know their HIV sero status.
“Once a person falls in love with their partners, they should always go to health facilities for HIV testing before engaging in any risky sexual act. If someone is found carrying the virus, they should adapt to positive living since carrying the virus in one’s blood does not mean a death sentence in this era where there are HIV drugs.”
