A policeman in Uganda has reportedly shot a tortoise dead, maintaining the reptile attacked him at his home.

The incident, which has left Officer Charles Onegiu “traumatised and stressed”, occurred in the Nebbi district in the north of the country.

Onegiu claims he was relaxing in his home after work when the hard-shelled assailant made his move.

“I tried to scare it but the tortoise became very aggressive. I took a stick to chase it but it instead became more violent making me to make alarm,” he told New Vision newspaper.

After threatening the creature with a plastic chair, the tortoise left the policeman’s home. It was then that Officer Onegiu “instinctively” pulled his firearm on the “big white tortoise”.

“As I talk now, I am still scared because it is the first time I have seen such an incident happen in my life or heard of one,” he told New Vision.

A local Christian group later prayed for Onegiu, "before burning the dead reptile to ashes," the paper reported.

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