By Donald Kiirya in Jinja

The Police in Jinja are holding a street kid for cutting two Special Police Constables (SPCs) who had gone to arrest him at the Jinja bus park.

The boy, identified only as Yasin, is accused of cutting Vincent Bogere and Karim Bakaswirewa – who are attached to Jinja Central police Station – with a sharp razor blade.

The suspect is being detained at Jinja Central Police Station with his two allies named Salvador and Tonte who were arrested earlier on.

According to the Jinja District Police Commander, Jonathan Musinguzi, Yasin cut the officers as they were arresting him after being wanted by Police to answer charges of house breaking.

Musinguzi said that it was on the last day of 2012, when Yasin and his clique broke into a shop at Kutch road and stole property but Police managed to arrest one culprit who later assisted it in investigations.

The culprit then revealed his allies and their hiding places within the bus park, where Yasin was picked.

Karim, one of the victims who was found in a minor theatre at the Out Patient department at Jinja regional referral hospital, said they were sent for an arrest.

“We found the suspect in the bus park and upon telling him that he was under arrest and in the process of handcuffing him, he removed a razor blade and cut my colleague Bogere in the chest and in the back,” he recalled.

“As I came to his rescue, he also cut me on the stomach and in the chest until other concerned residents came and helped us,” Bakaswirewa said.

Yasin was later taken to the Taxi Park Police post when the angry residents expressed interest in lynching him.

They were deadly cuts for the two policemen. The duo bled profusely and became weak and was rushed to Jinja referral hospital for medical attention.

The adamant residents stormed the police station, but an armed policeman whisked the street kid away to safety at Jinja Central Police Station amidst tight security.

District police chief Musingunzi admitted that idling street children present a huge problem in Jinja.

“Police has tried its best to pick them up and take them to the courts of law but another challenge is that there is no remand home in Jinja. So we request higher authorities to look into this challenge.”

He said most of the street kids engage in crimes like house breaking, theft, kidnapping and raping women in the wee hours of the day, among others. 

It was a bloody arrest for Special Police Constables Vincent Bogere and Karim Bakaswirewa (top right). PHOTOS/Donald Kiirya