The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has recalled a case file following protests from parents of a defilement victim in Luwero district.
Last month Police in Wobulenzi town council arrested Mohammed Kivumbi, the Director of Vision Nursery and Primary School in Busula trading center over allegations of defiling a primary seven pupil at his school.
It is alleged that on Friday, April 1, Kivumbi invited the 11-year-old girl into his office at around 10:00 pm and thereafter defiled her. The victim says that Kivumbi asked her to bring books to his office after preps but ended up switching off the lights and defiling her.
The victim adds that Kivumbi threatened to curse her and fail the Primary Leaving Exams if she reports the matter.
The victim was examined at Luwero hospital and found out that she was defiled before Police preferred charges of aggravated defilement against the director at Wobulenzi Police station CRB 113/2022.
However, three weeks later Police transferred the victim to a Police surgeon in Kampala for re-examination before another medical report was authored indicating that there was no penetration to confirm that the girl was defiled. Police later released the suspect on Police bond amidst protests from the family.
This week the family petitioned the DPP protesting against the release of the suspect and rejecting the Police surgeon’s medical report.
Oliver Nakonde the victim’s auntie explains that by the time the surgeon conducted the examination, the girl had undergone medical treatment from Luwero hospital with knowledge of detectives making it difficult to show signs of penetration.
Nakonde adds that the evidence from an earlier medical report authored by a government doctor at Luwero hospital was enough to prosecute the suspect and wondered why three weeks later police opted to take the girl to their surgeon.
Nakonde alleges that the suspect is relative to a Senior Police Commander at the Savannah Regional Police office and he is suspected to have played a major role to ensure another controversial medical report is authored so that his brother is released.
“We ask DPP to order for the re-arrest of the suspect and ensure he is prosecuted because the hospital’s medical report and statements from the victim pinned him”
Irene Nakimbugwe the Deputy Spokesperson of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution says that they received a complaint from the victim’s family and they were equally concerned about the handling of the case.
Nakimbugwe said that the DPP has since ordered the file to be recalled for review to establish whether the case was handled fairly or not before another decision is made.
“Our officer has interacted with the victim’s file and we now await the review of the file before another decision is made,” Nakimbugwe said.
Isah Ssemwogerere the Savannah Regional Police was unable to comment saying he had no updates about the case.
Our reporter has learnt that the file was recalled by Criminal Investigations Department headquarters at Kibuli for perusal over a complaint on how it was managed. The file is yet to be returned to Luwero CPS.
According to a Crime report released by Police, at least 174 children were defiled in Luwero district in 2020. The report placed Luwero district in 10th position among districts with high rates of defilement across the country.
Another report from Luwero District Health Department shows that at least 16,163 teenage pregnancies were reported in the financial year 2020/21 while 442 cases involved girls below 15 years of age.
Despite the rampant cases of defilement in the district, few suspects have been prosecuted as many bribes their way out of the Police cells and others settle cases with parents.