By Morning Star News, East Africa Correspondent
A mother of 11 who left Islam for Christianity was poisoned to death last week in a village in eastern Uganda, area sources said.
Namumbeiza Swabura, mother of a 5-month-old baby, died June 17 in Nabuli village, after her sister-in-law visited her and prepared a light meal of cooked plantain called matoke for her, area sources said.
Swabura and her husband, former sheikh (Islamic teacher) Mugoya Muhammad, put their faith in Christ in August2014.
Her husband’s sister, Jafaran Wowa of Kanyolo village, visited her at 4 p.m. and after an hour prepared the dish, sources said. Wowa, who did not eat any of the dish, left soon after Swabura finished it, Muhammad learned.
Muhammad arrived soon after she finished eating to find his wife complaining of stomach pain. She told him the pain started immediately after eating the food that his sister had prepared for her, sources said.
Swabura’s pain grew worse as she began vomiting and her nose began to bleed uncontrollably; her face turned pale, and two hours later she died in their home as Muhammad was trying to rent a car to take her to a hospital, they said.
Her sister-in-law has gone into hiding, the sources said.
Swabura and her husband have received several death threats since putting their faith in Christ, according to Muhammad. During a visit by Morning Star News to the area in late May, he said, “We are fearing for our lives as the Muslims are threatening to kill us if we continue in Christianity.”
Besides her infant and husband, Swabura wife leaves behind 10 other children.
“We suspect that Muhammad’s sister, Jafaran Wowa, was given a lot of money to carry out the heinous act,” an area source said. “This was a deadly drug like rat poison or Bromethalin.”
Unable to bear the costs of pursuing legal recourse regarding Swabura’s death, Muhammad decided to bury her the next day, Thursday (June 18), sources said.
James Kalaja, pastor of the couple’s Muhammad New Hope Church in Nabuli, told Morning Star News by phone that the village has many Muslims hostile to Christians. After Muslims raped his daughter because of his role as a Christian leader, he recently moved his family to a safer village, he said.
“I only go to conduct Sunday service,” he said. “Christians are facing threats here, and the Muslims would not like to see a church in Nabuli village. It is sad that we have just lost our sister. The Christians are shaken by her death. We have been praying for Muhammad due to several threatening messages that he has been receiving through his phone.”
