Nabwire murder: How police arrested suspect after seven-day manhunt

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Police Flying Squad has tracked and arrested a suspect in the kidnapping and murder of three-year-old Evelyn Nabwire, ending a seven-day manhunt.

The suspect, Edrine Bwire, was arrested at his hideout in Namahara Village, Namayuge Parish, Buswale Sub-county, Namayingo District.

A sharp panga and a knife, suspected to have been used in the murder of Nabwire, were recovered from the hut where the suspect had been hiding.

Grace Nyangoma, the Busia District Police Commander (DPC), confirmed the arrest of Bwire, saying:

“We found him hiding in his grandmother’s house, where he had gone to look for food.”

Bwire is accused of kidnapping and later murdering his three-year-old cousin, Nabwire, at their home in Bubolwa A Village, Bulumbi Sub-county, Busia District.

Bwire allegedly kidnapped the three-year-old on the afternoon of September 24. A case was reported at Bulumbi Police Station, and the file was immediately transferred to Busia Central Police Station for further investigation.

Following the report, the Police Flying Squad was briefed and joined by officers from the Crime Intelligence Unit, who immediately launched a search for the suspect.

“Our motive was to arrest the kidnapper and rescue the victim alive,” Nyangoma told Monitor.

Using phone-tracking technology and call-location data, the officers began tracing the suspect, Bwire.

Bwire, who had started calling the family and demanding a Shs2 million ransom, remained elusive despite efforts by the security team to track him down.

The suspect, identified as Edrine Bwire (pictured), was arrested in Namayingo District. Photo | David Awori

A source close to the investigators said Bwire switched off his phones and kept moving and hiding in the thick Busitema Forest to evade arrest.

On September 25, security tracking devices picked up the suspect’s location, with coordinates indicating that he was in Busitema Forest, raising hopes among officers that they could rescue the victim.

“We were in the forest when it rained heavily for more than two hours, making it difficult for us to continue combing the area,” a source involved in the investigation said.

At around 1am on Saturday, the police officers, who had been joined by the girl’s father, David Ouma, withdrew from the search.

According to Ouma, at about 2am, just before he could fall asleep, one of his brothers alerted him that his daughter had been murdered and her body dumped in the middle of the Busia-Bugiri Highway, a few metres from his home.

Police were alerted to the scene, where the body of Nabwire was found with several deep cuts and bruises.

“Her stomach had been slit open, with her intestines exposed. She had deep cuts on her head, leg and ribs,” a source revealed to Monitor.

Monitor learnt that after killing the victim, the suspect allegedly dragged her body onto the tarmac road, causing additional bruises in an apparent attempt to mislead investigators into believing that she had died in a road crash.

As police carried away Nabwire’s remains, the investigators’ focus shifted from rescuing the child to identifying and arresting the suspect behind one of the most gruesome murders in Busia.

During Nabwire’s burial last week, Anglican Church of Uganda Rev Abuneri Bwire denounced the murder, saying the killing of the innocent child could bring a curse upon the Bwire family and generations to come.

“I am the one who baptised this baby two years ago. It pains me that today we are standing here to mourn her death at the hands of a person who was supposed to protect her,” Rev Bwire said.

Busia District LC5 chairman John Charles Namayindi, who joined mourners at Ouma’s home, called for swift investigations and the arrest and prosecution of the suspect.

As police intensified the search, the suspect remained elusive, briefly switching on his phone to make calls before changing locations.

“At one moment, the security tracking system would indicate that he was in Busitema, and shortly after, the coordinates would show he was in Sifuyo Masaba Sub-county. After a few hours, the coordinates would indicate that he was in Buyanga Sub-county,” the source said.

The source said Bwire kept switching his phone on and off to evade arrest, knowing that police were tracking him.

On October 1, at about dawn, security coordinates indicated that the suspect was in Namayuge, Buswale.

A source among the investigators said they drove to Namahara Village, Namayuge in Buswale Sub-county, Namayingo District, where they arrested the suspect hiding in his grandmother’s house.

“The suspect was very weak. He had gone for days without food, and it appears he had walked from his hideout in Busitema to his grandmother’s house to get something to eat,” one of the investigators said.

The officer said the suspect was found in possession of a sharp panga, a knife and a bag containing some of his belongings.

From Namayuge, the suspect was driven to Namayingo Central Police Station and later transferred to Busia Central Police Station.

Nyangoma has since emphasised that police would record the suspect’s statement and conduct a scene reconstruction as the case file is prepared for court.

At Busia Central Police Station, Bwire confessed to the murder, saying he kidnapped and killed the child because of jealousy and disagreements within the family.

“The father of the girl I killed is my brother, but I was jealous of his prosperity. They slept in a good house and had good meals, while I nearly starved,” the suspect told investigators.

The father of the deceased earlier told Monitor that Bwire and he shared the same grandfather and that whatever little he had, he shared with his cousin.

“When his father died, we took up the responsibility of raising him. We fed him, offered him shelter, clothed him and treated him whenever he was sick. I did not know he would grow up and kill my child,” Mr Ouma said.

Asked why he could not spare the life of the innocent girl, Bwire said he had developed uncontrollable anger and wanted to kill the child to cause pain to her parents.

During the scene reconstruction, the suspect was taken back to his demolished home, located about 50 metres from the victim’s home, where he narrated how he committed the murder.

He said that on the day he kidnapped and killed Nabwire, he first isolated her from her friends.

“I told the victim to stay behind as I pretended to send her friends to the nearby shop. As they walked away, I got hold of the girl and used a panga to cut her to death,” Bwire confessed.

Bwire said that after killing the victim, he first hid her body in his hut before later carrying it to a nearby cassava garden.

He said shortly afterwards, the girl’s parents and some residents came to his house looking for her, but he pulled out a panga and threatened to kill them.

“The residents ran away, and I took advantage of the situation to carry the body and escape to Busitema Forest, where I hid,” Bwire said.

Bwire, who led investigators to the cassava garden and later to Busitema Forest, said that even while demanding a ransom, he had already decided that the family would receive Nabwire’s body.

“I kept demanding money, but I had already killed Nabwire. I simply wanted to receive the money and then drop the body where they could easily find it,” Bwire said.

As police reconstructed the scene, angry residents attempted to attack and lynch the suspect but were restrained by the heavy security presence.

“Police, help us and allow us to kill this man. He should die the same way he killed the innocent baby,” one man shouted.

After the scene reconstruction, the suspect was driven back to Busia Central Police Station, where he is being held.

Ms Nyangoma revealed the suspect faces charges of kidnapping and murder.

At the time of her death, Nabwire had started her education at Elite Nursery and Primary School, where she was in baby class. The school is located a few metres from her home.

Wandera Junior, a teacher at the school, told this reporter that Nabwire was disciplined, sociable and always punctual.

Bwire, on the other hand, was described by residents as a frustrated young man who occasionally worked as a boda boda rider and sometimes sneaked into Busitema Forest Reserve to engage in illegal charcoal burning.

“He had been isolating himself and always waited until nightfall to sneak into the forest and cut trees for charcoal burning,” Richard Bwire, the village LC1 chairman, said.

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