This month, a Muslim woman in eastern Uganda killed a Christian couple and took the life of her daughter with the same poison she accidentally used on those who led her to Christ, sources said.
Doreen Naiaba died on March 16th after eating poison prepared by Hanifa Hamiyat in the town of Naviganda. Niava was six months pregnant.
Hamiyat’s 18-year-old daughter, Mariam Kapisa, died the next day after unconsciously eating food prepared for Naiaba and Naiaba’s husband Jackson Wampura, who died the following day (March 17), residents said.
Niava shared his Christian faith with Capisa after completing his high school exams. Hamiyat was angry that the couple took their daughter to a church service on March 17, local sources said.
A Muslim neighbor who saw the Christian couple set out for church with Kapisa and return with her that afternoon asked Hamiyat to know where she was from her daughter, local sources said.
At about 5:30pm, the neighbor intercepted Kapisa and told him she had attended a church service. He and Kapisa returned to her house and told her mother.
“My mother was very angry with the girl, but since it was Ramadan, she didn’t want to cause a lot of vigilance, so she kept it quiet,” said a local source who briefly visited the family that day.
During Ramadan, local Muslims often break food with other families in the evenings and break it quickly every day, and at 7pm Hamiyat prepared meals and sent Kapisa to share it with the Christian couple.
“My daughter didn’t know that her mother had poisoned her food,” he said. “When her daughter arrived at Doreen’s house, the three of them joined in sharing food and soon (after) she left.”
At home, Kapisa complained of stomach pain and was immediately vomiting and mourning, sources said.
“My mother asked what the problem was and why she was late. She replied that she shared it by eating food with Doreen’s family. She was in deep pain.
Kapisa rushed to a nearby hospital where she died, he said.
About an hour later, Niava and her husband began to suffer from stomach pains and diarrhea and called another neighbor an emergency call.
“When I arrived home, they were in bad condition and I took them to a nearby clinic where they were given first aid before they were referred to the main hospital,” the neighbor said.
Niava passed away before he arrived at the hospital, and Wampura died the next day at the hospital, a neighbor said.
In a test conducted on remaining food samples, doctors discovered it contained the toxic drugs that caused the death of the couple and Kapisa, the neighbor said.
Local leaders were detained in Hamiyat, questioned, and confessed that she had poisoned the food, the neighbor said.
“I had no intention of killing my daughter, but my plan was to kill my neighbors to take her to church in this holy month of Ramadan,” she said. “Our Imam has assured us that when you kill a Kafir (pagan) Allah will reward Janna (paradise), called Fildauzi.
Hamiyat was in police custody at the time of this writing and a hearing was scheduled for Wednesday (April 2).
The evangelist was seriously injured
In Iganga town, the Iganga district of eastern Uganda, two Christians were in danger after Muslims on the Hardline beat and stabbed them during an outdoor evangelistic effort, one of the evangelists said.
Ephraim Idbe, 32, and Tefilo Mwanani, 40, left the town of Bucesa on March 14th to preach the gospel to Muslims in Iganga. After establishing a small portable speaker, they declared the Gospel.
“Muslims came with big numbers and began screaming because they thought we made the noise and that we considered the prophet as a prophet in the holy month of Ramadan,” Mwanani told Morning Star News.
Before they could respond, one of the Muslims grabbed a portable speaker, picked up the wires and hit it with a hammer, but the others defeated them, he said.
“It was identified as Bluehan Isabilier went and picked up a panga (a Long Somali sword) at a nearby butcher and began to cut us out,” Mwanani said. “Many people, including Christian, came to save us and chose Panga from his hands. It was a little late, but we bleed too much, but we thank God that the help came quickly and rushed to the hospital.”
Deep wounds, they were in danger at Iganga Hospital, a contact in the Morningstar news that visited them said.
The attack was the latest in many examples of persecution of Christians in Ugandan that Star News documented that morning.
The Uganda constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to spread faith and to transform from one faith to another. Muslims make up less than 12% of Uganda’s population, and the eastern part of the country has high concentration.
