Over the Weekend, Police in Ntungamo District arrested a woman and three others for allegedly beating and assaulting a priest during funeral prayers for the man of the family.
Rev Nathan Nkuranga had been invited by the family to their ancestral home in Kishami Parish, Ruhaama East Sub-county, to lead the prayers ahead of the burial of Brazio Biryomumaisho.
During the burial, there were reports and complaints from the mourners and some family members that Biryomumaisho died an unhappy man and that he had been hungry to the point of his death which prompted the priest to preach against the mistreatment of spouses in his sermon.
However, this annoyed Christine Mbabazi, the widow, and she tried to hit him with a stick.
It is alleged that four other family members also attempted to prevail over the situation and the priest was forced to abandon the service.
While speaking in an interview with the press, Rev Nkuranga said he was preaching in general and not necessarily referring to the widow.
“I only said it was only a foolish woman who mistreats her husband, with whom they’ve had children to the extent of starving him. I also said domestic violence is on the rise where women and their sons mistreat the elderly so that they can share property after they have died,” he said.
The priest also noted that Moses Bagambe, the elder brother, had earlier told him and mourners that the deceased had been mistreated, denied food, beaten, and at times chased out of the house by his wife and three sons who were demanding to divide the family land.
“We managed to take him to hospital with the intervention of the village chairperson, and when we reached him there, no one followed him. On the day his wife came to the hospital, he died. This caused suspicion from the family and to stop the suspicion and conflict, the reverend advised us that before burial, there must be a post-mortem done,” Bagambe said.
Rev Nkuranga revealed that he also asked for a post-mortem to calm mourners’ fears.
“I ordered that a post-mortem must be first done and we establish the real cause of the man’s death given the behaviour she showed,” Rev Nkuranga said before the widow could hit him with a stick, he held it firmly and called police to intervene.