By Catherine Namugerwa
After years of abuse, 36-year-old Allen Katushabe’s husband abandoned her with their children. At the time, she was pregnant with their youngest child, who is now six months old. The mother of three – a resident of Kisaamabare Cell, Mbaare Sub-county in Isingiro District – is a survivor of domestic violence. She’s nursing wounds after her husband injured her and their baby in a domestic brawl in which she also lost her left hand.
After her husband abandoned them, Katushabe struggled to take care of her children as a single mother. One day, her husband came back home and started from where he had stopped with his habit of abuse.
“When he came back home, he started by asking for food, which he had not provided. I told him that we have no food and ever since he left home, we have been surviving on [handouts from neighbors] and other good Samaritans in the village,” says Katushabe.
Katushabe narrates that this is when he started beating her up. Her children were not spared.
“After beating the children he took them outside then he came back for me with a panga and he started beating me as I was carrying my six-month-baby. I could not help myself; he cut off my right hand with a panga and after injuring me and the baby with severe cuts, he ran away thinking that I had died,” Katushabe shares.
She says her husband had abandoned her and their children for almost a year and even after injuring her he disappeared. She was taken to hospital by neighbours.
We found Katushabe bed ridden at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital where she is admitted with her six-month baby. She tearfully narrated her fears about facing life as a single mother with one hand, yet she was struggling even before the incident.
Katushabe, who is currently admitted at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital surgical ward with her six-month-old baby, survived with deep cuts on the head and lost her left hand.
“I can’t imagine [life as a disabled single mother]; previously I would dig for people and get food to eat with my children. This has now come to an end because I can no longer dig or do any productive work. The situation has worsened for me,” says Katushabe.
Police and local leaders in Rwizi region have expressed concern over the increasing number of domestic violence cases in the districts of Mbarara, Isingiro, Rwampara, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Kazo and Ibanda. Police statistics indicate that the area has registered over 600 cases of domestic violence in the last six months.
The Rwizi regional police have for the last three years been ranked second in the annual police crime report.
According to SP Vela Mwakiire, the Regional Police Officer for Child and Family Protection Unit, Isingiro District tops in the cases followed by Kiruhura and Ibanda.
“Police has embarked on a massive community policing campaign to reduce cases of domestic violence,” says SP Vela.
Similarly, Halson Kagure, the Public Relations Officer of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, revealed that on a quarterly basis the facility admits about 700 cases related to domestic violence.
“The hospital, in collaboration with other civil society organizations, has embarked on a drive to contain the vice that is wrecking many families.”
He notes that through campaigns like the 16 Days of Activism, they will find a lasting solution to the increasing domestic violence cases that have compromised the guarantee of basic needs to family members, especially children.
Katushabe’s case is just one in several cases of domestic violence in the country. According to the Annual Police Crime Report 2020, 17,664 domestic violence cases were registered, up by 29% from 13,693cases in 2019.
