ANOTHER GGABA HORROR! Months After Okello-Daycare Massacre...Kenyan Woman Stabs 2 Kids to Death, Torches Car, Injures 3 Others and Herself

KAMPALA — Police are investigating a horrific attack on five children in Kalungu Bunga, Ggaba Parish, where two siblings were killed and three others seriously injured in an early-morning stabbing incident.

The children’s 43-year-old mother, Dorothy Namayo, a Kenyan national, was also found injured at the scene and remains admitted at Mulago National Referral Hospital under police guard.

Detectives are yet to establish what triggered the attack, who started a fire that destroyed a Toyota Hiace parked at the family home, or whether the stabbing and fire were connected.

The shocking incident happened in the early hours of Thursday, just months after another deadly attack on children in Ggaba Parish in which four children were stabbed to death at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program daycare centre.

According to preliminary information gathered by police, the alarm was raised at about 4:00am after a housemaid was awakened by an alarm and cries for help coming from the main house.

When she went to investigate, she reportedly found several children with severe stab wounds.

Namayo was also found injured and was rushed to hospital, where she remains under police guard as detectives piece together what happened.

The attack sparked panic among neighbours, some of whom reportedly climbed over the perimeter wall after struggling to gain access to the house.

Mary Mubiru, the chairperson of Kalungu Bunga Village, said she was initially alerted by a neighbour who told her that a vehicle at the home was on fire.

Before she reached the scene, however, Mubiru said the children’s father contacted her and asked her to intervene, alleging that his wife was attacking the children.

“I rushed there and found people trying to enter the house,” Mubiru said.

According to Mubiru, rescuers eventually gained access and were confronted with a horrific scene.

One of the older children was already dead, while others were found seriously injured and crying for help.

Peter Waburokho, a neighbour who was among the first residents to enter the compound, said he arrived at about 5:00am after noticing the fire.

He described the situation inside the house as chaotic, with injured children crying for help.

Waburokho further said one of the injured children told rescuers that their mother was responsible for the attack.

Police, however, have not independently established that account and are treating it as part of the witness evidence being examined.

Investigators are also looking into reports of a disagreement involving members of the family on Wednesday, hours before the attack.

Waburokho said he had heard about the disagreement and that the children’s father was away when the incident occurred.

However, that account is not universally supported by residents.

Mubiru said she had never received complaints of domestic violence involving the family, while Ssebandeke Atanansi, who says he has lived in the area for about 15 years, described the household as generally calm.

Ssebandeke said he had never witnessed the couple fighting and urged people experiencing domestic disagreements to seek help before conflicts escalate.

The conflicting accounts have now become part of the questions facing detectives as they reconstruct what happened in the hours leading up to the killings.

Police Fire Prevention and Rescue Services responded to the scene and extinguished the fire that destroyed the Toyota Hiace.

Investigators recovered a five-litre jerrycan, which they suspect may have contained petrol, together with other exhibits from the scene.

The items are expected to undergo forensic examination to establish what they contained and whether the fire was deliberately started.

Homicide detectives, Scene of Crime Officers and fire investigators have since examined the house, documented the scene and collected evidence.

Police have also recorded statements from the person who first reported the incident and several witnesses.

Luke Owoyesigyire, the Deputy Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, said investigators were working to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths, injuries and fire, as well as the motive behind the attack.

Namayo remains hospitalised under police guard, and detectives are expected to obtain her account once her medical condition allows.

The tragedy has sent fresh shockwaves through Ggaba Parish, which is still grappling with memories of another deadly attack on children.

On April 2, four children—three boys and a girl—were stabbed to death at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program daycare centre in Makindye Division.

Police arrested 34-year-old Christopher Okello Onyum at the scene in connection with those killings, and the case was subsequently taken to court.

Police have not linked the two incidents, but their occurrence within the same area and only months apart has left residents deeply concerned about the safety of children.

For now, detectives are focusing on the physical evidence recovered from the house, witness accounts, the circumstances surrounding the vehicle fire and, crucially, the statement expected from the injured mother.

The investigation is expected to shed light on what happened inside the family home before the desperate cries for help alerted neighbours at dawn.