The family of Edirisa Traore, the husband of the Kenyan woman accused of murdering her children in Bunga, says the incident happened at a time when Traore was planning to subject the children to a DNA test after suspecting his wife of having other relationships.
The murder incident happened on 20th August, 2025, in Kalungu zone in Bunga, Makindye Division, Kampala. Police identified the suspect as Dorothy Namayo, 43, a Kenyan national. According to police, Namayo allegedly stabbed her five children, killing two of them Daizy Khadija, 14, and Hawa Dalene and injuring three others aged 13, 8, and 5, before attempting to take her own life.
The three survivors are currently under the care of their father at his second home, as the Bunga home remains a crime scene. Police spokesperson Rachael Kawala confirmed on Monday that the suspect is currently admitted at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital for medical examination.
Tracing their background, the two met in 2013 when Namayo was a student at Kampala International University (KIU). Traore, who is from Mali but had come to Uganda from Zambia where he had been working, had spent four years in Uganda and was working in real estate.
According to his elder brother, Abubakari Boubou Makena, Traore rushed into the marriage without taking enough time to understand Namayo. Makena says when Traore proposed, Namayo told him she was in another relationship but asked for a week to think it over. She later accepted, and the two officially wedded.
Makena says the first six to seven years of the marriage were relatively stable, but things started changing after Traore discovered a conversation between his wife and a man identified only as Apollo, who she described as a mere friend. He says Namayo continued sneaking out and having late-night phone conversations, which Traore would report to him.
Makena recounts that in 2023, Traore assaulted his wife after a man called her while she was in the bathroom and he picked the call. The matter was reported the next morning at Bunga Police Post and was settled. According to Makena, a female officer at the station advised his brother to stop his wife from associating with a group of foreign women in Bunga who were allegedly engaging in prostitution behind their husbands’ backs.
According to Makena, months later he found his brother dozing in his office in the morning. When asked, Traore reportedly told him that his wife was stressing him, had denied him conjugal rights, and he had resorted to sleeping in the visitors’ bedroom, in hotels, or in his office to avoid daily quarrels.
In March 2025, following persistent misunderstandings, Traore reportedly told his family he had decided to marry a second wife, following disputes over a vehicle Traore had bought for transporting school children, which was impounded by moneylenders after Namayo allegedly borrowed Shs 12 million, which accumulated to Shs 15 million, without his knowledge.
He explains says Traore informed Namayo that as a Muslim man, tired of mistreatment, he had decided to take another wife, which she allegedly accepted. The next day, however, she reportedly waylaid him on the road and had a serious fight, where she demanded a separation agreement.
Traore went on to marry his second wife, but according to Makena, Namayo became more disrespectful, started moving out at night and returning late, even when Traore was at their Bunga home, leading to fights that often ended at police.
Makena further alleges that Namayo collected about Shs 50 million for a coffee business that collapsed within months, and later Toure bought her a school van for transporting children. He says she started returning home around 11 pm, which angered Traore, prompting him to confiscate the car keys. Makena claims Namayo had already sold the vehicle to another person.
“After confiscating the car keys, the next morning people came to impound the car, but Traore had already took the car keys and hidden them at a friend’s place. That is the day I learnt for the first time of man called Apollo who said he was soldier working in Nakasero at State House, and he had come to pick the vehicle he had purchased and he had the logbook. The issue ended up at Kabalagala Police Station, when this man did not turn up. We later found out that the soldier had a fake logbook, which we suspected was the same boyfriend to her and they had planned to take away the vehicle.”
He said family members repeatedly pleaded with Namayo to reconcile with her husband and respect his demands for the sake of their children, but she allegedly told them she was no longer interested in the marriage and wanted out.
Makena further alleges that his brother spoke to one of Namayo’s youthful friends studying in South Africa, who told him they had been advising Namayo to leave the soldier, but she had refused, saying although she did not love Traore, other men did not have money like him. He said Traore paid some police officers to obtain his wife’s phone records, which upon analysis allegedly showed she was involved with Apollo and several other men.
This reportedly prompted Traore to think of subjecting the children to a DNA test. According to Makena, Traore told the family he was planning to sell part of his land to pay for DNA tests for all his daughters. He said they all agreed to the plan and Namayo was aware of it, but just a week later the killing happened.
He added that Namayo had repeatedly complained to him about being accused of cheating, saying her husband was threatening her with a DNA test.
Makena said before the incident, there had been a quarrel over changing schools for some of the children, which Namayo had rejected. She had allegedly started telling the children that their father did not love them and that was why he was taking them to cheap schools.
One of the girls reportedly told her father about it, sparking a fight. Makena says he was called by one of the deceased children to intervene. He rushed to their Bunga home, counseled the couple, and left. Later that night, Traore sent him a message thanking him for always standing by his family. Only hours later, at 5 a.m, he received a call that Namayo had killed the children.
The housemaid, Mariam Saana, who was a witness, also told investigators that misunderstandings and routine fights between the couple started this year after the husband took a second wife.
It is not yet clear when Namayo’s health condition will normalize to face charges in court.Traore’s family said that they don’t believe Namayo has a mental illness, arguing that her actions were well planned from allegedly swindling money from her husband, then getting loans from money lenders, to conniving with her alleged lover to sell off her husband’s vehicle.
This incident is part of a wider, worrying trend captured in the Uganda Police Force Annual Crime Report 2025. Police recorded 208 deaths resulting from aggravated domestic violence in 2025, up from 183 deaths in 2024, a 13.7% increase. Of the victims, 92 were female adults, 89 male adults, and 27 juveniles -14 boys and 13 girls.
Paradoxically, while fatal outcomes increased, the total number of reported domestic violence cases dropped by 12.2%. Police attribute the rise in fatal domestic violence to persistent family conflicts, economic stress, and unresolved disputes.
