Richard Mukama, a resident of Tse Tse Zone in Mayuge Town Council, reportedly lured Afuswa Namulondo to meet him before attacking her with a syringe.
Namulondo, a resident of Giri Giri Village in Mpungwe Sub-county, said she had declined Mukama’s request to visit him, believing their phone conversations were enough.
But Mukama later showed up in her village unannounced.
“When we met, he said he had a plan. Before I could understand what he meant, he grabbed my hand and injected me with a large syringe, the kind used on animals,” Namulondo said.
At first, she didn’t know what substance had been used. But when she asked, Mukama allegedly told her: “Your mother and sisters have forbade our relationship, so I have injected you, and I will inject myself too. Our souls will meet in heaven.”
Namulondo managed to flee and returned home. As pain and swelling developed in her hand, she sought help from a nearby drug shop.
Her mother, noticing her daughter’s distress, asked what had happened. Namulondo later confided that her boyfriend had injected her with paraffin—a fact she could now smell in her own breath.
Alarmed, her mother reported the case to Mayuge Police Station and rushed her to JK Pancras Medical Clinic.
Dr Joseph Onyango Pancras, who first treated Namulondo, confirmed that the patient was given first aid and later referred for more advanced care.
He added that she may require minor surgery to remove tissue damaged by the paraffin.
Police arrested Mukama after the LC1 Chairperson of Budhebela Village, Mr Waiswa Kabangala, called him under the pretext of visiting the girl at the clinic.
When Mukama arrived, officers were waiting.
Chairperson Kabangala condemned the act, calling it “cruel and unacceptable,” and urged young people to resolve relationship disputes peacefully.
Police are holding Mukama at Mayuge Central Police Station as investigations continue.