Police in Kampala have recovered the lifeless body of a two year old boy who reportedly suffocated to death in an abandoned faulty car.
The deceased identified as Kevin Murungi, died after failing to open the car, upon locking himself alongside his 5-year- old colleague called Patrick Miracle .
Murungi’s mother, Annet Mukisa, a resident of Kikajjo zone, Bweyogerere division, Kira Municipality, says that the minors were last seen around 10 am Tuesday playing in their compound.
She explains that the boys disappeared when she was doing house chores and her efforts to search for them yielded nothing.
“I looked for the boy but I could not see him. I kept on hoping that he would return since he was playing with his friend from our neighborhood but this did not happen. Even the neighbor’s child did not return. I reported the case to the LC 1 chairperson and we searched together but we could not find the boys,” Mukisa said.
She said that as they were still puzzled about the whereabouts of the boys, Miracle returned around 8 am Wednesday struggling to walk and speak.
The parents asked him where he had left his colleague and he informed them that he was sleeping inside a car. Murungi’s father, Joel Atifi, and mother tasked Miracle to lead them to the car where he had left their child sleeping. Upon checking the vehicle, they noticed Murungi was long dead.
Miracle has since told people and Bweyogerere police that were swiftly invited to the scene that they entered the vehicle but failed to get out.
“We pulled the doors and they opened. We entered but we failed to get out. We called for help but people could not hear us. We spent the night in the car but Kevin was not replying when I was calling him,” Miracle explained.
Bweyogerere police have entered a case of suspected murder under reference CRB CRB/282/2022. The vehicle in which, Murungi died is Premio registration number UAX 892F and was parked in Katongole estates.
Police have since established that the vehicle belongs to one Fredrick Osmatte who has since recorded a statement.
“This car is mine. I parked it two weeks ago. I could not lock the doors because they were faulty. I have been looking for money to repair it,” Osmatte said.
Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, said they cannot pinpoint the exact cause of Murungi’s death because they haven’t got the postmortem results.
Onyango said the postmortem findings will provide a basis for their next course of action. Murungi’s death comes a month after Stewart Bakkabulindi was found dead inside his sister’s car in Bweyogerere.
