KAMPALA, UGANDA: Kampala City Hall Court has remanded a 62-year-old man to Luzira prison on allegations of defiling his four granddaughters in separate incidents.
The suspect is Muhammuddu Iddi Zingo, 62, aka Taata Medi who is living with HIV/Aids in Namuli Zone, Bukoto, a Kampala suburb.
The Grade One Magistrate Jane Tibagozenka yesterday slapped Zingo with four charges of aggravated defilement attracting life imprisonment once convicted.
Tibagozenka did not allow the accused to plead to the charges saying the offence being capital in nature, court has jurisdiction has no jurisdiction to hear the case.
“You can apply for bail, if you so wish, before the High Court that is seized with powers to try capital offences,” she added, before adjourning the case to April 25 for mention.
According to the charge sheet presented before court, it is alleged that between March 2020 and March 2022 in Namuli Zone, Bukoto, a Kampala suburb, Taata Medi unlawfully performed had carnal knowledge with three girls aged two, six and nine years respectively, well knowing that he is living with HIV.
In a separate file, prosecution further alleges that on March 25, 2023, he unlawfully performed sexual acts with a three-year-old girl.
The mother of one of the victimized daughters who requested to speak on condition of anonymity said she reported to Kira Road Police after noticing changes in her child’s movement.
“I always leave my daughter at my mother’s house every day as I go to work because I have nowhere to leave her and my mother shares the compound with the suspect, who is her brother,” she said.
She further claimed that on the fateful day, the suspect lured her daughter into his house, promising to give her more dates and then defiled her.
The mother also noted that her three-year-old daughter was put on Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for six months while other victims did not get a chance to be taken to hospital early since they decided to keep quiet.
However, one of the accused’s sons, who also preferred to speak on condition of anonymity, said his father was being victimised due a family land wrangle.
He said the piece of land on which their family house stands was given to them by their late grandfather who cautioned them never to sell it.
“At the time of dividing among themselves, my father (Zingo) was not around and when he came back, he found part of his land was used as the family’s burial grounds and they did not want him to use the remaining vacant part,” he said.
He added that his father owns a company that takes care of vulnerable children of whom the alleged defilement victims are part and that he was surprised that they had turned against him.
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