23-year-old gang-raped by ‘investors’

Kampala-Pain is written all over her face. Tears run down her cheeks as she complains of severe abdominal pain. The discharge of faeces and blood is ceaseless and she can neither sit nor stand without support.
The 23-year-old [names withheld], has endured this agony for two months.

She was gang raped by five men and sodomised too. Her tormentors claim to be investors. The Pakistani nationals lured her into their trap under the guise of getting the victim a new job.

“I was a waiter at Savannah Bar and Restaurant in Kiwatule [Kampala] when one of the men, who came as a customer, lured me into taking up a better job in a car selling plant in Kampala,” the woman narrates with teary eyes.

She says that in July, the man, who claimed to be an investor, took her to a house in Kiwatule for two days, purportedly to prepare her for the new job. She says he instead organised his friends to gang-rape her.

“On the third day, he returned home with friends speaking a language I didn’t know. He then called me into the bedroom and locked me there while his friends entered and pounced on me one by one,” she says with tears rolling down her face. “I tried to shout and fight them but they over- powered me.”

The girl says the following morning, she escaped from her captors and reported the case to Kiwatule Police Post and she was later admitted to Mulago hospital for about a month.

While in hospital, the girl claims that doctors advised her to go for an operation because both her private parts and anus had been severely raptured. But she had no money for the operation. She was compelled to return to her former workplace to seek assistance.

When she returned to Kiwatule Police Post, the officer in-charge, told her the case file had been submitted to Kira Road Police Station for further investigations.
“On reaching Kira Road Police, I got information that the file was being handled by a police officer (names withheld) who shelved it after getting a Toyota Nadia vehicle [registration number withheld) from the suspects who work at Yuasa Motor Agency in Kampala,” she said.

She sought redress in the media and when Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander Andrew Felix Kaweesa learnt of it, he intervened.

On Friday, Mr Kaweesa held a press conference where he disclosed that he learnt of the matter through a local radio station and instructed the deputy crime investigations officer, Mr Geoffrey Musana, to carry out fresh investigations and ensure the culprits were brought to book.

“Using the woman, we managed to arrest two of the culprits and efforts are under way to have the remaining three arrested,” Mr Kaweesi said.

He said the act was not done by the Pakistani community but individuals. Mr Kaweesi added that managers at Yuasa Motor Agency will help police to identify the suspects.

Mr Kaweesa said police had received reports that many Ugandan girls are being subjected to such acts of sexual violence.
“These vices are being heard of in areas of Bunga, Kiwatule, Muyenga but affected people should come up to report the matter,” Mr Kaweesa advised.

He also promised to investigate the information that one of the police officers who handled the file at Kira Road Police Station had been compromised by the suspects to kill the case.

He said if the officer is found culpable, he would be punished accordingly. Mr Kaweesi said the suspects face charges of unnatural sex, rape and abduction.
He alerted all border posts to ensure the suspects do not sneak out and escape justice.