An officer of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), Sgt. Stephen Kawuki is admitted at Mulago hospital nursing wounds of dip cuts including one of his hands which was on Thursday night cut off allegedly by his wife.
Sgt. Kawuki who is one of the guards of the Minister of State for Defence, Jacob Oboth Oboth accuses his wife, Nalongo Annet Nabbowa of cutting off his hand using a sharp panga as he was asleep.
The couple resides at Nakuwadde village in Wakiso sub-county, Wakiso district. Nabbowa was arrested and charged with attempted murder on file number SD: REF: 03/16/11/2023 at Bulenga Police after her husband accused her of attempting to finish his life.
“I woke up from a deep sleep after Nabbowa had chopped off my hand. She also attempted to cut off my neck but I managed to fight for my life!” Kawuki said.
The scuffle is reported to have happened on Thursday night at around 4:00am. Residents said that after cutting her husband, Nabbowa ran outside their house and started alarming, calling for help. She said they had been attacked by assailants who had cut her husband and stolen some property.
Kawuki was however rescued by the neighbours who rushed him to Mulago Hospital for treatment. It was from Mulago Hospital that Kawuki called the neighbours whom he told that it was not the assailants as his wife was alleging but she was the one who had grievously cut him. It was at this moment that Nabbowa was arrested and handed over to Police.
One of Nabbowa’s children said that he had seen the mother throwing a panga in a pit latrine which he suspected to have been used to cut their father.
Kawuki said that before sleeping the previous night, he had given Nabbowa sh8m which he asked her to keep as he had intended to use that money to repair their vehicle, a Tipper. The officer said he had got the money after selling part of his land at Kyankwanzi.
“From the deep sleep, it was a pang that cut off my hand which woke me up. While crying foul, she also cut me near the neck; her intention was to cut off my neck. It was after that when she went out and started alarming. She left me in a pool of blood. She must have ignorantly thought that I was going to die,”Kawuki narrated.
To his surprise, Kawuki says he was shocked to hear Nabbowa narrating to their neighbours who turned up saying it was an assailant who had cut him!
He said that though they have been going through some domestic wrangles which would make him even fear to sleep home, but this time everything was ok.
“I was also shocked to call for money from home to help me cater for the medical expenses but Nabbowa’s response was that the assailant had stolen it all. That is not possible,” he said.
With tears rolling down from his eyes, Kawuki said that next year he was going on a mission in Somalia but all that had been shattered by Nabbowa who cut off his hand.
The UPDF First Division Spokesperson, Maj. Charles Kabona said that the army is going to cater for the treatment of their personnel. Kabona said they are also going to follow up the case and make sure that Sgt. Kawuki gets justice.
The officer in charge of Bulega Police, Ronnie Ssande said that Police had started investigations into this matter.