A MAN accused of sodomising a 13-year-old boy has been remanded to Luzira Prison.
Joseph Ssempijja, claiming to be 18 years, on Wednesday afternoon appeared in Makindye court over charges of aggravated defilement, which he denied.
He appeared before Grace II magistrate Maxensia Namaganda.
Prosecution told the court that the suspect on June 7 at Kifampa Zone in Makindye, a Kampala suburb “performed a sexual act” with the boy.
Ssempijja is the second man to be dragged to court over sodomy since January.
Sasha Kalule Kirumira was in April charged with sodomising a 12-year-old boy at his hair salon in Lunnyo village, Entebbe. He is on trial.
The recent victim’s mother, still shaken by her son’s ordeal, recollected that her son was sodomised about a fortnight ago when her son had gone to a nearby shop.
Sempijja remanded until July 13, is self-employed and resides in Dubai, also in Makindye.
Aisha Nassozi narrated: “I was told my son on that night found a friend at the shop and as they chatted, they were interrupted by Ssempijja who asked him if he recognised him to which the boy responded affirmatively but added that he had forgotten his name.
“He then requested my son to help him carry some items, to which the boy resisted, saying it was late. It was 10:00 pm.”
It is alleged that Ssempijja promised the boy sh3,000 if he carried the luggage.
Instead of the alleged errand, Nassozi said her son was led to a banana plantation where he was reportedly sodomised.
Quoting her son’s testimony, she added: “He asked him whether he knew about homosexuality and told my boy he would take him to some people who would give him a motorcycle and sh150,000. When he resisted, Ssempijja grabbed his neck, yanked his pants off and pushed his private parts in the juvenile’s buttocks,”
Three days later, the boy, who reportedly sustained wounds in the anus and bled, disclosed to his mother the awful encounter.
Nassozi took her son to a health centre in Kibuye, another Kampala suburb, where he has since been receiving treatment.
A doctor in a televised testimony on Wednesday confirmed that the boy was sodomised.
Ssempijja was arrested in Kibuye after the victims father reported to the Police.
Aggravated defilement is a capital offence only tried by the High Court. Culprits are handed death sentences.
Under the amended defilement Act, a person, who performs such acts on a boy, is tried for aggravated defilement.
