The Police in Busia District, eastern Uganda have charged and remanded to prison one Peter Egesa, a fish trader and resident of Buhonge Village, Buyanga sub-county over the aggravated defilement of his 15-year-old granddaughter.
According to Bukedi South Region police spokesperson Moses Mugwe, the suspect while at Wakawaka Landing Site, Bulidha Sub-county in Bugiri District reportedly called his older wife Rose Egesa, whom he had abandoned in Buhonge Village asking her to vacate the house claiming that he wanted to sell the land to have money to support himself and his granddaughter, his newly-found wife.
Out of frustration, Ms Egesa rushed to Buyanga Police Post and reported a case of defilement and domestic violence against the male suspect, prompting police to track, arrest him- and rescue the victim who was found pregnant.
Preliminary findings indicate that Ms Egesa could have learnt of the incestuous relationship between the suspect and his granddaughter from the victim’s mother Susan Misanya, who has also been arrested on charges relating to procurement of defilement. She is detained at Busia Central Police Station.
“The mother to the victim was an accomplice to the defilement and act of child trafficking for not reporting the matter to the police,” Mugwe noted, adding that they tracked the suspect to his rented room in Wakawaka Village.
Mugwe said that by law, the victim was a juvenile, her mother (Misanya) refused to file a defilement case against the suspect but was instead visiting the two at their rented room in Wakawaka Village. “Against him, police prefer charges of defiling and marrying his own granddaughter who was a Primary Five pupil at one of the schools in Busia District in 2022.”
According to Mr Mugwe, the victim was last year first sexually abused by one of her maternal uncles and conceived, but the pregnancy was in May terminated at one of the health facilities allegedly through the help of the suspect.
Two months later, the grandfather started having sexual intercourse with the minor- until February 2024 when she became pregnant.
Mugwe further explained that after he learnt that his granddaughter was carrying his pregnancy, he shifted from his home in Buhonge Village to Wakawaka Village and rented a room where the two stayed as husband and wife.
Busia-based lawyer James Okuku said: “If it is true that the suspect defiled his own granddaughter, his acts portrayed how much society has suffered moral decay.” “That is an abomination and curse to society,” he added.
The suspect was last Friday arraigned before Busia Grade One Magistrate Susan Adero who charged him with aggravated defilement and aggravated human trafficking before being sent to Masafu Prison until May 20.
The suspect visibly remained calm in the dock despite being told he couldn’t take plea “because the charges preferred against him are of capital nature and only triable by the High Court.”
Under the Ugandan law, both counts can attract severe punishments if found guilty.
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