Crocodile Eats Pregnant Woman, Husband, Mubarak Batambuze, Hunts Down And Kills ‘Wife-Eater’

A Ugandan husband, whose pregnant wife was dragged to her death by a crocodile, gained revenge by hunting down and killing the beast himself.

Four months ago, Demeteriya Nabire stood by the edge of Uganda’s Lake Kyoga, alongside some other women from her village, when a crocodile grabbed her and dragged her into the water. She was never seen again.

The story was even more tragic, because Nabire was actually pregnant at the time of her death. Her husband, Mubarek Batambuze, was stricken with grief when he learnt of his loss. Speaking to the BBC, he explained just how devastated he was when he learnt of her grisly demise.

“The crocodile ate my wife entirely. Nothing was ever seen of her again — no clothes, no part of her body that I could identify. I just didn’t know what to do — a mother and her unborn child. It was the end of my world. I was completely lost.”

Batambuze assumed that he would never get the opportunity to gain revenge on the beast who had destroyed his burgeoning family in one fail swoop. But then last month, in January, he was told that the crocodile had actually returned to the village.

Far from being overawed by the return of the crocodile, Batambuze insisted that he leapt at the opportunity to gain revenge, and the 50-year-old fisherman immediately headed towards the lake with some friends.

“Somebody called me and said, ‘Mubarak, I have news for you — the crocodile that took your wife is here — we are looking at it now.'”

When he confronted the murderous crocodile for the first time, Batambuze quickly realized that it was much larger than he had originally anticipated. In fact, according to Ugandan Wildlife Authority ranger Oswald Tymanya, it actually weighed 1,300 pounds and was over four meters (around 12 feet) long.

After originally trying to kill the beast with stones and sticks, Batambuze decided to visit the local blacksmith to fashion something that was much more vicious. He asked the blacksmith to help him create a spear that would kill the crocodile “that had snatched and killed [his] wife and unborn baby.”

Batambuze decided to pay the $5 fee for the spear, even though that was a significant amount of money for him to spend, and he then set out to kill the wife-eating behemoth.

When he returned to the water, he was relieved to see that the crocodile was still there. However, he was then told by his friends that he shouldn’t seek revenge on the crocodile because it was too big.

They told Batambuze, “Please don’t attack this beast, it’s so huge it may eat you. The spear is not enough — it won’t finish the job.”

However, Batambuze wouldn’t be put off, and he insisted that he didn’t care if he died killing it. Batambuze went on to explain how, after an hour and a half tussle, he eventually killed the crocodile.

“I put the spear into the crocodile’s side, and while my friends were helping to throw stones at the beast’s back, it tried getting its mouth up to attack me again.”

“It turned violent, and then there was so much fear in the place. But I was so determined, and I wasn’t afraid of dying. I just wanted it dead, so I put the spear in its side and I pulled the rope. That got the crocodile into trouble.”

After returning to the village with the carcass of the beast, Batambuze and his pals, who, during the titanic tussle, had taken turns to fight and attack the animal, were quickly labelled heroes.

Despite the death of the beast, and the discovery of a tibia bone in the crocodile’s stomach, vets have insisted that, because too much time has passed, it’s “highly improbable” Demeteriya Nabire’s bones will be found inside.

[Image via Dakwatuna]