William Unek
was an African police constable and mass murderer who killed a total of
57 people in two separate spree killings three years apart.
His first murder spree occurred near Mahagi, Belgian
Congo in 1954, where he killed 21 people with an axe, before escaping
and finally ending up in Tanganyika.
Apparently because of social misunderstandings with
his boss, Unek went on a second rampage which began in the early hours
of February 11, 1957. Armed with a stolen police rifle, 50 rounds of
ammunition and an axe he started killing people in the area of Malampaka,
a village about 40 miles southeast of Mwanza.
Within twelve hours Unek shot dead ten men, eight
women and eight children, murdered five more men with the axe, stabbed
another one, burned two women and a child and strangled a 15-year-old
girl, thus killing a total of 36 people, before fleeing.
For nine days Unek was sought by Wasukuma tribesmen,
police, and eventually a company of the King's African Rifles in
Tanganyika's greatest manhunt up to that time.
Despite the extensive search operation, including
dogs and aircraft, and a posted reward of $350, Unek eluded his pursuers,
until he finally showed up at the house of a certain Iyumbu, who lived
only two miles away from Malampaka, in search for food. When Iyumbu
reported the incident to police, he was asked to keep Unek with him and
notify them, should the killer come again to his home.
Unek, still armed, reappeared at about 1 a.m. the
next day. Iyumbu, sending his wife to police, gave Unek food and engaged
in a conversation with him for nearly two hours until help arrived. At
that point Iyumbu ran out of his house whereupon a Police Superintendent
threw a smoke bomb, setting the house on fire. Unek, injured when
attempting to evade capture, later succumbed to his wounds in hospital.
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