Former diplomat jailed over defilement

By Richard Drasimaku 

DAN Opima, a former Ugandan diplomat has been remanded to Arua Prison on charges of aggravated defilement. One of Opima’s last foreign service postings was to Ethiopia.

Chief Magistrate Jesse Byaruhanga sent Opima to jail after he declined to take plea. He is to return to court on Friday to take plea. 

Opima was arrested on Tuesday. He is accused of defiling a 13-year old pupil of Arua Demonstration Primary School according to witness statements in the case. 

Josephine Angucia, the West Nile police spokesperson said the victim is a daughter of the suspect’s brother-in-law.

The victim is quoted by the police to have said that Opima began defiling her from August last year and that each time he preyed on her, he placed a machete nearby to threaten her not to make alarm or report the incident. 

According to police it was one of her female class teachers who took notice of the girl’s depression in class and decided to take her aside for counselling.

During that session, she reportedly narrated her ordeal, prompting the class teacher to inform the headmaster. Eventually the victim’s parents were informed and the case registered at Mvara police station before being forwarded to Arua central police.

However upon learning about the registration of the case at police, Opima went underground, only operating through trusted emissaries to try to arrange for the settlement of the matter at home.

Finally, on Monday, detectives hatched a plan to net him. They told the victim’s parents to accept a customary settlement so that the fugitive would come out and be nabbed at the settlement meeting.

Adhering to the police plan, a meeting was arranged for last Tuesday at Opima’s home in Dadamu Sub County from where he was arrested. 

Angucia said while at the police cells, Opima shunned every opportunity to be taken out even to the toilet during the day and told off every sympathiser who wanted to visit him that he was resting in his cell room.

His file was sanctioned by the resident state attorney on Thursday morning and was promptly produced in court in the evening.

“This is a totally unacceptable behaviour. As a grandfather, Opima should have been the first person to protect this girl instead of messing her up,” Angucia said.

 Opima is a renowned politician who twice unsuccessfully contested for the Arua district LC5 chairman seat in 2006 and 2011. Currently he has been the National Resistance Movement party’s electoral registrar for Arua district.

The Arua district NRM administrative secretary Swaib Akifo said he has enlisted sub county registrars to conduct the business that Opima was supposed to undertake at the NRM offices in the meantime.

In both circumstances, he lost the NRM primary elections but each time he would return his party card to stand as independent candidate, alleging rigging by the poll winners.