Student killed after family fails to pay ransom
Publish Date: Mar 22, 2014
Joan Namazzi, 17, was kidnapped and later murdered by unknown people
A family in Nabbingo is in mourning after their 17-year-old daughter was kidnapped and later murdered by unknown assailants on Wednesday after the family failed to pay a ransom.
Joan Namazzi, a student of St. Mark S.S. Namungoona, was abducted on her way from Kyambogo University where she had gone to visit her elder sister.
Her mother, Maimuna Namatovu, said the teenage student had just returned from school after she was sent away because of school dues.
“She immediately changed into her casual wear [clothes], picked a phone and told me she was going to see her sister in Kyambogo,” said the grieving mother.
Namazzi’s sister – whom she had gone to see – said they parted ways at around 3pm local time (EAT) after the visit that same day.
She even escorted her to the roadside to board a commuter taxi back to their family home.
The ransom
Later that night, the girl's elder sister received a phone call from her mother inquiring about the whereabouts of her sister.
It was around 10pm local time.
“When I called her [Namazzi] she told me that she had gotten into problems but did not divulge what it was. I then asked her to board a boda boda [motorcycle] and come back to the university,” she said.
Moments later, she narrated, a man called her mother [on phone] demanding a sh2m ransom.
“I thought they were joking but they even made me speak to her [Namazzi] and I could hear her wailing in the background,” she said.
That same night, at around 2am, Namazzi's sister called that very number and a man picked the call.
“He told me my sister was already dead.”
The family continued receiving calls, tormenting them, and on Thursday they received another call from the kidnappers who then demanded for sh500, 000.
When she [the mother] failed to fulfill their demand, they then directed her to where her daughter’s body was.
Katwe district police commander, Ezra Tugume, said they recovered the corpse abandoned at Kikajjo in Namasuba. Her body bore torture marks.
By that time, Police had arrested a suspect – Lurian Kiwanuka – who was last seen with the victim.
This is the second such murder in the space of two months. In February, a student of Makerere University Business School (MUBS) was kidnapped and murdered.
Her tormentors kept on calling and teasing her family using her phone days after they had murdered her.
