A senior pastor in Namasuba, Kampala has been arrested on allegation of aggravated defilement of a girl he visited at her home to pray for as her guardian was in prison.
The 42-year-old is under detention at Katwe Police Station.
Kampala Metropolitan police deputy spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said the pastor was arrested after the 14-year-old reported the matter to police.
“The detectives took the victim to hospital where the medical examination was carried out and confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted. I have been informed that the detectives are to submit the case file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to guide us on the way forward,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Owoyesigyire said yesterday.
According to the elder brother of the victim, the incident happened in January after he was arrested by the army on allegations that he possessed a tear gas canister and remanded to prison.
“That pastor was my friend. When I was in jail, he visited my home to pray for my family in the trying moment. He used that opportunity to defile my sister. The girl was so traumatised that she even ran away from home and didn’t want to go back to school,” the victim’s brother said
He added that he got information while he was in jail and insisted that the case should be investigated.
When I came out of prison on bail, I pursued the case. But what is shocking to us right now is that the suspect’s friends and fellow pastors are putting pressure on the police to release him despite the presidential directive on not granting police bond to those accused of defilement,” he said.
The suspect denies the allegations of aggravated defilement.
Mr Owoyesigyire said the presidential directive not to grant police bond to suspects detained on capital offences still stands.
Crime
Defilement is a capital offence and a person convicted of aggravated defilement is liable to suffer death.
