Residents from Jinja North, in Jinja City, have demanded immediate police action, following persistent attacks by hooded killers whose only aim seems to be stealing phones, but has resulted into the death of three residents in a space of one week.
The first attack was on Fred Wango, a resident of Wanyange cell, in Northern division of Jinja city.
The killers are suspected to have trailed Wango from a parking yard in Namulesa cell, before cornering him in a dark feeder road, located along the Jinja-Kamuli road.
They reportedly hit him severally on the head, causing unregulated blood flow in the brain, which is reported to have precipitated his death.
The second killing happened on Thursday last week, when muggers attacked Lawrence Oketcho, in the areas of Jinja-Kamuli road.
Oketcho, a clothing dealer, known for supplying retailers within Northern division is suspected to have been attacked, while heading back to his home in Bugembe ward, which is located about 1.5KMs away from the crime scene.
Oketcho is reported to have been attacked at around 8:30PM, sustained serious injuries in the stomach area, which prompted passersby to rush him to a nearby clinic, only to be pronounced dead an hour later.
The third person, Yusuf Mukasa was killed last night along the railway line, connecting to his home in Wanyange lake cell.
Yusuf Mukasa, a motorvehicle spareparts dealer in Jinja city’s central business district was also attacked on his way from work.
Mukasa is also suspected to have been hit with a blunt object on the head and his attackers allegedly fled after confirming that he was already dead.
One of the residents who spoke on condition of anonymity saith that two youths wearing dark hooded clothing rounded off Mukasa and hit him on the head before fleeing about five minutes later.
He says that this attack happened at around 7:30PM, triggering the attention of neighbouring residents, but his pulse were already unresponsive and they contacted police to intervene.
Mukasa’s body has been taken to Jinja regional referral hospital mortuary for postmortem, to determine the exact cause of death.
Now, residents say that, these killings have created panic and there is need for police to comprehensively investigate the suspects behind this new wave of crime.
Amina Aliba, a resident of Budhumbuli cell says that, the nature of these killings is the same, with the attackers only taking the phones of their victims.
Aliba also says that, police should study this pattern and avail the public with a conclusive report pertaining these killings, which will reduce on the tensions in the communities.
Aliba says that timely updates about the progress of investigations is key in restoring public trust in the commitments by security personnel to protect them and their property at all times.
Esther Menya, another resident says that, police should redeploy the daily foot patrol method in black spot areas, which they used to break up machete wielding gangs in the past two years.
Menya says that, this method proved effective and attracted support from village L.C.1s, whose contribution beefed up police manpower, which scared away criminal minded elements.
She says that these local leaders provided intelligence led information, which overtime led to the arrest of the machete wielding gang leaders, most of whom are still serving their prisons sentences.
Ayub Wabika, the mayor of Northern division says that, any loss of life is tragic to not only families, but neighbouring communities alike, which police ought to swiftly address.
Wabika says that these crimes are largely instigated by unruly youths, who were once street children and they are suspected to be attacking people over unknown reasons.
Wabika says that, most of the suspects have been radicalized by unknown ring leaders, whom he suspects to be training them in the excessive use of force to rob their victims.
Wabika says that, this new wave of criminality was already raised before the security committee and he is hopeful of ongoing efforts to crackdown the machete wielding gangs.
Meanwhile, the Kiira regional police spokesperson, James Mubi confirms the three deaths, noting that, their intelligence teams have been dispatched to extensively investigate the matter.
Mubi assures the community on calmness, noting that they have secured strong leads and are currently closing down on the suspects behind this wave of criminality.
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