Baker Walusimbi showed no emotion whatsoever for all the 45 or so minutes that he was paraded before

the press. Sometimes, the 5'6 feet tall Walusimbi even afforded a smile. With a moustache, at one time he
moved his right hand up and settled it on his head, as if in deep thought. All the time, there was nothing to
show that this was the notorious serial killer who had confessed (according to Police) to raping and killing
at least five young women and robbing tens of others. The five victims include Maureen Nabbaale, Jackie
Najjombwe and Maria Annet Katasi, all residents of Pidar Zone, Najjanankumbi. The victims bodies were
found in different parts of the city suburbs, their throats cut in the most ghastly manner. Apart from that,
Police sources claim Walusimbi might even have robbed and killed his sister. When he was finally
arrested by Police from his father's home at Wankoko, Bugolobi, he was found with 37 expensive phones.
Each of the phones belonged to a woman he had either robbed and/or killed. Along with the phones were
the tools of his tradeseveral long, sharp knives and a toy pistol. The story of a serial killer first came out
in 2005. This was after at least two bodies, raped and with their throats cut, were found in different areas
of Kampala. At the same time, several women reported to Police that they had been given rides by a
young man who later turned against them. At the time, the Police denied the existence of a serial killer or
serial rapist. But cases continued in the papers of women complaining about a man who had given them
lifts before robbing them. The Police intensified their pursuit of the sinister killer, until they finally
nabbed him on January 21. Even now, they claim that Walusimbi is simply a common criminal. However,
going by his behaviour, he qualifies to be called a serial killer. For one to be known as a serial killer, he
must have a particular group of victims he targets, have a particular method of killing them and do this at
least three different times. Walusimbi did all this. His victims were beautiful young women between 20
and 30 years. He picked them up in almost the same way, robbed them in the same way and killed them in
the same way.

On interrogation, he allegedly confessed to the murders. The main weapons of a serial killer are not the
guns, knives and strings that he carries and uses. It is his ability to look innocent and simple, thus drawing
no suspicion from his would-be victims. Walusimbi was all this. He was very simple and humble. There
is no way anybody could have known he was a killer, one of the people who used to see him on Luwum
Street says. A trader who knows him says Walusimbi had money most of the time. He used to visit high-
class places like Mateos and Steers, had lunch at Uhuru Restaurant and at night went dancing at Angenoir
and Club Silk, another person who knows him says. Walusimbi grew up in Wankoko. He is a son to Hajji
Yusuf Ssengendo, who owns a large expanse of land at Wankoko. Ssengendo could, however, not be
reached for comment. Walusimbi has other relatives at Wankoko, but all of them have refused to talk to
the press.

Walusimbi was one of many children in the home. As a child, he was very humble and bright,” says a
family friend who saw him in the early 1990s. The family friend is amazed at what he is hearing today. In
the mid-1990s, he was a student at Kololo High School. I remember him. He was one of the boxers there,
says Musa Kitaka, who was in the school at the same time. It was through this boxing that Walusimbi got
in touch with a group of boys who were engaged in delinquency. They used to move in a group every
evening without shirts. They smoked all kinds of things,” Kitaka says.

In the late 1990s, Walusimbi tried kyeyo in London, but returned after only one year. Sources claim he
might have been deported over some cases. In 2002, he was arrested for defilement and imprisoned in
Luzira. According to security sources, he has the same traits as convicted murderer and robber Richard
Arinaitwe, who is in Luzira. Police says Walusimbi met Arinaitwe in Luzira and it is suspected that he
sharpened his savage skills there. Apart from spending time at his father’s home, Walusimbi lived in a
two-roomed house owned by Teddy Namatovu at Buziga. Namatovu says Walusimbi was a calm and
simple tenant. He used to pay rent on time. she says. She adds that people used to say he was simple
because of his love for children. According to neighbours, Walusimbi spent most of the day sleeping in
his house, but disappeared at night and returned around dawn. He would come with different cars every
morning, says a neighbour. According to Police investigations, Walusimbi is suspected to have killed his
sister who had just returned from London. She was found dead in her bathroom days after she arrived
from London, with a lot of her money missing. Snaring his victims when they least expected it and
striking an understanding with them is one tactic he had mastered. I would see a group of ladies standing
at the roadside and I would drive past them several times, trying to get a way of taking them in, he told
Police.

This revelation falls in line with evidence given by one of his victims. A beautiful mother of one, he
picked her up on Jinja Road, outside Uganda Management Institute (UMI). When I was alone with him in
the car, he told me that he had driven several times past me. He had entered UMI and then come out, and
that is when he stopped and asked me to board his car,she said. The list of victims is long and mixed.
University students who love a free ride and business executives who are late because of lack of taxis all
fell victim. Police says more are still showing up to report cases. On average, he robbed at least three
women each night, Police says. Each victim was raped in the same way. Those who either identified him
or resisted were killed. He changed cars like he changed his shirts, says another man who knows him.
He sold some of these cars. We actually thought he was a car dealer because he would drive up here, park
his car and mingle with car dealers on Luwum Street, he adds.A special-hire driver who operates near
Mutaasa Kafeero Plaza says many of his colleagues used to give their cars to Walusimbi for self-driving.
I never gave him my car because I do not give it out to self-drivers, he says. Other than that, he did not
suspect anything sinister about Walusimbi. However, this driver confirmed that one of the cars
Walusimbi used to drive around was a Toyota Corona UAG 137H. According to friends, Walusimbi had
several girlfriends, but he was not officially married. However, he has a two-month-old child with one of
the women.