Kiira region police have tracked down and arrested 18-year-old, Slyvia Doreen Bakita for the attempted ritual murder of 10-month-old, Devine Namuganza.
She was picked from her home in Ikumbya trading center in Ikumbya sub-county in Luuka district on Sunday night.
Police acted on a tip-off from the suspect’s neighbours after noticing her living with a child, yet she has never given birth to children of her own.
Bakita is reported to have stolen Namuganza from the prayer palace church on February 13th, 2022.
Namuganza’s mother, Sarah Wandovu says that Bakita spent almost the whole day in church and participated in all the three main sermons of the church, camouflaging as a devout Christian who had dedicated the whole day to God only to steal the child in the evening session.
Bakita has since reportedly confessed to having planned together with her boyfriend a month ago, whose identities have been withheld, to sacrifice a female child to appease the gods, who would, in turn, award them wealth.
Bakita says that the child sacrifice rituals were meant to be conducted on Wednesday last week, but her boyfriend failed to pay Shillings 2.5 Million, which he had promised to pay upon receipt of the child as a token of appreciation.
Kiira Region Police spokesperson, James Mubi, says that detectives have been dispatched to track down Bakita’s boyfriend and their other accomplices, who have since fled into hiding in Namwendwa sub-county, in Kamuli district.