By Andrew Irumba
Tooro: Rwenzori West Regional Police Commander (RPC), Lameck Kigozi has withdrawn case file no CRB241/2021 from OC/CID and District CID, belonging to an 8yr old defilement victim of Kiboota P/S whose names are withheld for being a minor.
The reason for the orders emanates from allegations of mismanaging the case by his police officers namely Buheesi OC/OCID Andrew Mukiza and Bunyangabu District CID in which they were accused of allegedly conniving with the suspects and got bribes to kill the case.
Our sources on the ground indicate that Afande Lameck yesterday Sunday went on ground to get first-hand information about the matter with instructions from the force’s Chief political commissar AIGP Asan Kasingye on Saturday who ordered for full investigations and possible prosecution if found culpable.
Lameck has however established that the girl was allegedly coached and gave two different versions of her tragic story, in which she was allegedly trained to save her grandfather Joseph Kaganda (70) and instead implicate her 12yr old little brother so as the case isn’t so ‘severe’ to the family.
“We’ve since established that the girl might have been coached because she gave two different statements in which she implicated her grandfather and her little brother of 12yrs. But we’re technical people, we know all these can happen, it’s not new to us investigative officers. So what we’ve done now is we’ve taken the girl away from the relatives to a very different environment where she will feel more secure and free to now talk to our investigative officers when she’s under no influence.
We’ve assigned a professional counsellor to talk to her freely and professionally for us to be able to now get the truth. Because ultimately she (victim) is the only one who will give us direction on this matter for sure. Because for now, we can’t establish between her grandfather and her brother who exactly did it without her telling us the truth,” RPC Lameck Kigozi told our reporter Andrew Irumba on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, separate sources we talked to on ground about the matter still have confidence that police can still press harder on their investigations scoop by carrying out medical examinations on both the grandfather and the little brother to ascertain who of the two has STD infections which were found with the girl upon medical examination, which have led to her private parts rotting and smelling, which they would then colloborate with the victim.
“Since she is a minor, it’s possible for the family to coach her especially that she spent a long time with them before she was taken away when the matter escalated, but we still hope the police can actually still get to the bottom of this through this way; The girl was examined and found her with infections, now if the grandfather is rearrested they can then test him and the boy being talked about and then see of the two who has such infections that colloborate with those of the girl. Also, the level of penetration can tell whether it’s an old person or her little young brother. We still have hope that even when they tried to coach her to hide the truth, the Police is capable of digging the truth out,” A boss of a village-based Human Rights NGO involved in the matter explained to this reporter via phone.
PSU Investigating Its Officers Implicated In The Corruption Saga
Meanwhile, Police’s Professional Standards Unit has since Sunday launched a full investigation with an aim of apprehending its own two investing officers implicated for having allegedly taken bribes in order to kill the girl’s case. The officers are; Buheesi Police post-OC/CID Andrew Mukiza and his District CID boss, who, together allegedly connived to kill the case.
RPC Rwenzori West Lameck Kigozi Confirms The Developments
Lameck also revealed that after the new investigations, the file for the girl will not be handled by the Bunyangabu Resident State Attorney (RSA) but by the DPP’s office directly. “The first file was handled by RSA Bunyanagabu but this time it will be handled by DPP’s office directly to avoid issues again,” he said.
He added thus; for Police officers, PSU is on the ground, that one will be handled differently by our bosses. For us we shall do investigations and handover report with recommendations, our bosses will decide”.
Back Ground
Muzei Kaganda allegedly came to defile the granddaughter after son Jusi Steven (father to defiled kid) left her to stay with him since he is a nomadic village pastor who couldn’t put up with the daughter as he has to attend to night prayers. Her mother too, according to sources doesn’t stay with the father of the girl.
Instead of having mercy for this young one, according to Mayor Buheesi Town Council Vincent Nyakoojo and Buheesi Town Clerk, Kenneth Bajenja, whom this reporter talked to via phone, OC/CID Buheesi Andrew Mukiza and Bunyangabu District CID connived with the suspect to kill the case after money exchanged hands.
It’s alleged that the accused police officers forced Muzei to sell his land while in the cells and the sale agreements were actually signed while in detention. It’s believed that the case vide no CRB241/2021 has since caused controversy between the political leadership of the district and the security apparatus.
According to sources, the key suspect paid yet to be known amount of money to get police bond after he was forced to sell his land at shs10m.
The father of the girl who was arrested as well paid shs300,000/- whereas the area Chairman paid shs150,000/- to get back their partial freedoms.
The father of the girl had agreed with his father (suspect) to get land in exchange for his defiled girl’s case, but police argued that they needed their share, hence the decision to sell the same and share proceeds, sources added. “The police have been keeping them here for long while negotiating on money, they forced him to sell the land so they could get their share,” added the area Mayor Nyajoko.
The mayor also accused Bunyangabu District Probation Officer Doreen Kabakali and a government-paid Nurse at Kiyombya Health Centre of conniving to kill the case by producing fake medical reports about the girl and the suspect in which they claimed that Muzei was mentally sick by the time he committed the offense and therefore deserve to be released.
“A corrupt government nurse, paid by the taxpayer faked an examination report whereby she claimed that she subjected Muzei (the suspect) to a medical examination and found him to be mentally ill and therefore by the time he committed the offense he wasn’t in his rightful state of mind! It’s this same report police used to release the suspect,” the Town clerk revealed.
He added that he wants authorities to intervene and task this Nurse to share with them the purported medical report of the suspect and the girl.
Kenneth Bajenja added that Buheesi police CID has been involved in several corruption cases where he kills many cases upon receiving a bribe. He asked police leadership to change him immediately pending investigations.
”I appeal to police leadership to apprehend their officers and also cause the rearrest of the suspect as the girl still lies helpless in the village with no medical attention extended to her,” said Bajenja.
