A hungry customer who ordered for himself a delectable local food in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, is reeling from shock after he forked out from the beef stew what appeared to be a child’s genital.
Police have detained two suspects – the eatery owner and a waitress – to help with investigations into the Holy Thursday incident that detectives on the case described as bizarre and unprecedented.
We are withholding identities of the duo pending their arraignment in court, if at all.
Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesman, said a trader (names withheld) informed them that he had just started eating a meal of boiled rice, steamed bananas and beef stew when he saw the strange flesh.
The customer’s hunger and appetite vanished and he reported summoning the waitress who had served him the food and both, upon close scrutiny, concluded that it was likely a male sexual organ.
“That is when they involved the police. We sent forensic experts to look at the suspicious item. Although it looked like a human organ, they were unable to conclude by observation … So, it was [taken as] exhibit and submitted to pathologists to examine it,” he said.
It is unclear when the results of forensic examinations will be out, with delay linked to the Easter holiday running from Friday to today.
As investigations got underway, police inspected the eatery and seized saucepans in which food was cooked alongside the portion served to the complainant, taking out samples for forensic examination.
“[The client] told police investigators that when he scooped what he thought to be a piece of beef from the sauce, he forked out something that appeared to look like the genital of a boy,” Mr Owoyesigyire said.
Detectives want answers a litany of questions: is the object a child’s penis as alleged, if so, from which infant was it cut and why, and how it ended up in a saucepan for preparing food for sale to the public.
ASP Owoyesigyire said the eatery where the incident happened is located on Kampala Road, in the heart of the capital, and near the headquarters of the Central Police Station.
“The suspected human genital has been submitted to the experts to establish whether it is on a human being or not. If tests confirm that it is of a human being, then we will escalate the investigations to find out who lost it and how it ended up in the saucepan,” he said yesterday.
The waitress told investigators that she got the food from her employer, the restaurant owner, and served it to the customer offsite when well covered with another plate – a common manner of plating local meals.
Both the business proprietor and the waitress have denied knowledge of the suspicious flesh found in the sauce.
Police did not find anything suspicious when they scoured the eatery, but many questions remain unanswered. We were unable by press time to speak to Kampala Capital City Authority, which sets the rules for doing business in the capital and inspects hygiene compliance for, among others, food operators.
City Hall has previously warned members of the public to buy food only from licensed restaurants and food delivery operators.
But local cuisines from informal vendors have made the food more attractive and affordable to buyers, especially those with less disposable income or individuals yearning for local food.
According to KCCA regulations, it is illegal to vend food on the streets in the city.
Source: monitor.co.ug
