Kigali Business woman, Josephine Uwamwezi nicknamed ‘Nyiragasazi’ has deeply been afflicted by mysterious death of her 25-year-old son, Fabrice Felice Ranghella, after 11 years of being denied access to him.
Ranghella is the last born among three children that Uwamwezi produced with her former Italian husband, Joseph Ranghella. The two were legally married but divorced in 2006.
Uwamwezi tells IGIHE that after divorce in 2006, she left home in Kacyiru with two sons, Fabrice Ranghella and Charles Ranghella because their sister was at school in England. At the time, Fabrice Ranghella was 14 while his elder brother was 18 years old.
Uwamwezi felt missing her son Fabrice and went to visit him at Green Hills Academy towards end of 2006 but the son got scared by seeing her, refused to greet her and phoned the father to inform him that his mother was at school. She left the school so afflicted considering that the father had instilled hatred into the son against the mother.
Shedding tears with a lot of sorrow, Uwamwezi says she had never seen the son since he refused to greet her in 2006 until she was informed of his death in Italy on July 6, 2017.
She says that, as a worker in road construction, her former husband kept moving from place to place where she tried several times to visit him and children but the husband’s lawyer and gatekeepers always chased her away without meeting any of her children.
When she heard of her son’s death, Uwamwezi rushed to Italy but hesitated to go to her former husband’s residence because she knew he was not going to welcome her. She went straight to husband’s younger brother but, unfortunately, her former husband was there to open door when she knocked.
The man roughly told her to find the son’s body at police station without, even, clarifying which police station among many in Rome city, Italy. Uwamwezi left that residence without knowing where she could find her son’s body but later learned her son Fabrice had committed suicide.
She wished to see her son’s face at least the last but she kept learning of his death’s circumstances from her daughter, Barbara Ranghella who was able to talk with her father and share information with the mother.
“All the days before the burial on July 11, I kept pleading with doctors to show me my son’s body but they refused, telling me it was no use showing me the body which was torn apart because of autopsy. I got to know that the father had told hospital workers to not let me look at my son’s body,” says Uwamwezi.
She adds that after her insistence for several times, the worker in charge of mortuary had pity on her and showed her the son’s face before wrapping the body in coffin.
“When I saw his face, I felt soothed because I had not believed that my Fabrice was really dead,” she says.
As a mother, Uwamwezi is still afflicted by the death of the son but especially because the death was not announced to inform the deceased’s friends like former classmates at Green Hills Academy and others in Kampala, Uganda where Fabrice also attended school.
She says, “With great sorrow, I would inform friends of my son that he is no more so that they stop looking for him via social media. He has passed away.”
Though Uwamwezi was told her son died of suicide, the father refused to show her doctor’s proof by allegedly lying to her that autopsy results are yet to be availed yet Uwamwezi is sure it never delays in Europe.
“I am still afflicted because I think he died of something else other than suicide because his father is not showing me results. He says he has not got them yet but I know the autopsy results are released quickly in Europe but I am waiting,” she says.
The afflicted mother considers seeking international justice to get her former husband tell her exactly about their son’s death.
Fabrice Ranghella was born on May 27, 1992, studied at Green Hills Academy, Kigali and in Kampala. He died when he was about to start university.



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