KAMPALA, (UG): Detective Superintendent of Police -D/SP Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana who rose to fame in 2011 for tormenting opposition candidate Dr Kizza Besigye has been charged and remanded to Luzira prison until August 18 over aggravated trafficking.
SP Arinaitwe Bwana who is attached to the Criminal Intelligence Unit of Police is accused of raping his 23-year-old maid at gunpoint on multiple occasions and keeping her in a non-disclosure environment against her will.
The 43-year-old CI officer was on Thursday, August 10, 2023, arraigned before Buganda Road Court where Chief Magistrate Mr Ronald Kayizzi read him the charge of aggravated trafficking in persons contrary to section 3(1)(a) and (4)(h) of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009.
Arinaitwe pleaded guilty and through his lawyer, he applied for bail on grounds that the offence with which he is charged is bailable and that he is the sole breadwinner of his young family. He presented three substantial sureties including his mother Olive Bwana, Sandy Nicholas; a police officer, his cousin and his friend Lukwiya John Patrick.
The Magistrate however declined his bail application and remanded him to Luzira Prison until August 18, 2023, when he will return for further mention and bail hearing.
“ It is late I can not write and deliver the ruling now, I will deliver the same on August 18, the suspect shall be kept on remand until that date,” ruled Magistrate Kayizzi.
Police Speak out
On Thursday afternoon shortly after the court proceedings, Police Spokesperson, SCP Fred Enanga explained how Arinaitwe, a once famous officer in police operations within the Kampala Metropolitan was engulfed in the rape allegations with the 23-year-old victim.
According to Mr Enanga, “It is alleged that SP Arinaitwe Bwana (the suspect) brought the 23-year-old female victim from Ntungamo District to work as a maid and coerced her into repeated acts of sex at his home in Bandwe-Nalumunye on July 25, 2023.”
Following the complaint by the victim, Enanga says Arinaitwe was earlier this month arrested, investigated, and has now been charged to court over the alleged charges. He added more possible charges are pending retrieval of DNA results, Enanga said.
“The fact that the suspect is a sworn police officer with a duty to protect the public makes the case more egregious. His appearance in court shows our commitment to fighting all persons who victimize vulnerable citizens, irrespective of their status,” Enanga said in a Thursday police statement.
The Rape Case
Court on Thursday heard that the female victim whose details are withheld alleged to have been raped on multiple occasions during her stay at the officer’s house at Nalumunye Village, Rubaga Division, Kampala City where she had been employed as a housemaid.
The victim says the first occasion came on the night of July 25, at gunpoint, and went on to be raped a record seven times thereafter while being threatened not to report the matter.
During this time, the woman says the officer confined her in the house with little or no food. He later refused to pay her salary.
She told police that after several attempts to free herself, she later found a way to report her predicament to a friend, who passed on the information to the local council defence secretary.
The newspaper further reported that the woman would then be rescued by the defence secretary who picked her up from the scene of crime and escorted her to the police where she filed the rape complaint.
Other charges
This is not the first time SP Gilbert Arinaitwe is embroiled in sexual harassment allegations. In August 2017, Arinaitwe was arrested for allegedly raping a teenage girl in his vehicle at Nakawa, a Kampala suburb shortly after his redeployment to the Criminal Intelligence Department (CID) after spending five years on suspension.
It is alleged that during his summoning at the CID headquarters in Kampala, he reportedly exchanged telephone contacts with the girl where she had been taken by her mother to be counselled on her unbecoming sexual desires that had affected her academic performance.
Rise to Prominence
SP Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana (the accused – now charged) came into the limelight in 2011 when he was photographed using his pistol to break the window of a car in which Opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye and his aides had barricaded themselves during a standoff with police at Mulago Roundabout near Kampala City centre.
According to the Ugandan law, Arinaitwe upon conviction over the charges of aggravated trafficking will face imprisonment for life.
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