Police to look into reports that Ggaba daycare attacker killed his baby step brother in 2019

Minister of Youth and Children Affairs Balaam Barugahara has directed police to investigate fresh allegations linking the suspect in the Ggaba daycare killings, Christopher Okello Onyum, to the death of a baby in 2018. 

The minister made the call after a woman surfaced in an interview claiming that Onyum had earlier strangled her infant son.

Barugahara said authorities should urgently contact the woman and record her statement. 

“Any one with contact of this parent crying out, kindly share so that we support and handle her matter transparently and utmost urgency,” he said 

“You may direct her to see director CID Tom Magambo direct at Kibuli CID headquarters. The truth will be known and justice will be served,” he posted.

The development comes as investigations continue into the killing of four toddlers at Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre in Kampala. 

The suspect allegedly entered the facility posing as a parent seeking to enrol a child before attacking children playing at the seesaw. He is currently detained at Kabalagala Police Division.

The woman alleged that in 2019, while she was married to the suspect’s father, she returned home one afternoon and found her one-year-and-three-month-old son dead. The baby, identified as Newman, had reportedly been strangled

"He tied a rope around his neck and strangled him. When he saw that that wasn’t enough, he wrapped a polythene bag around his head to choke him,” she said.

A postmortem report which she shared showed that the baby died of “hypoxia due to strangulation and suffocation”

She added that police rushed the baby to hospital where he was pronounced dead. However, she claimed she never received justice because the suspect later fled to the United States.

“I’m happy now that he is arrested and I pray that God comforts the parents of the four babies. I hope that we can get justice this time. He must never come out in public again, because had he been apprehended when he killed my boy, he’d never have been able to kill those babies in Gaba,” she said.

Probe expands into suspect’s pastThe allegation adds to earlier reports that the suspect had a history of mental illness and had previously travelled abroad for treatment.

Local leaders earlier said family members disclosed that he quietly returned to Uganda months before the Ggaba attack.Police have not yet confirmed the 2018 incident.

However, it is expected now that following Barugahara’s directive investigators will now examine the claim as part of the broader inquiry into the suspect’s background.

Authorities have already closed the daycare centre and its sister schools as investigations continue. Police are also working to establish the suspect’s motive and whether there were previous warning signs that could have prevented the tragedy.