Postmortem Rules Out Suicide, Reveals 12-Year-Old Kasese Boy Was Strangled

What the report says

Police in Kasese District are investigating the death of 12-year-old Dan Mumbere, a primary school pupil from Rwenguba Village in Bwera Sub-county, after a postmortem found he was strangled before his body was arranged to look like a suicide. The boy was first reported as having been found hanging in his room, but investigators say medical findings ruled out death by hanging.

According to the Nile Post report, Mumbere was last seen around 11 a.m. on August 4 while playing with other children. His father later noticed he was missing, and relatives and neighbours searched for him. The body was eventually discovered by the boy’s seven-year-old sister, who found him hanging from a window with a cloth used for tying jerrycans.

Rwenzori East Regional Police spokesperson ASP Elly Maate said the postmortem showed signs consistent with strangulation, including neck trauma and pressure before death. Police said detectives from Bwera Police Station, together with homicide and scene-of-crime officers, documented the scene and recorded witness statements as they work to identify the person or people responsible and the motive.

The body was released to the family for burial, and no arrests had been announced at the time of publication. The case has drawn attention because it appears to involve not only a killing, but also an attempt to conceal the manner of death by staging the scene.