Parents lied in child kidnap case

Oct 11, 2009

The guardians of the 14-year-old girl, who allegedly disappeared from the custody of Nakaseke Police post, have testified that they lied to implicate the Police.

By Francis Kagolo

The guardians of the 14-year-old girl, who allegedly disappeared from the custody of Nakaseke Police post, have testified that they lied to implicate the Police.

Jane Nakambugu, whose purported disappearance on August 30 had caused the arrest of Police officer Ibrahim Ssennyonga, was found on Thursday last week.

Her step-mother, Esther Nakayiwa, 44, and uncle, Muhammad Nsereko, said they connived and hid the girl at her grandmother, Divine Nakabuye’s, home, in Kasasa village, Masaka district, where the Police found her.

The parents, both residents of Nakaseke, had told journalists last month that Nakambugu had disappeared after Police officers arrested her from Nakayiwa’s home in Kasana in Kikamulo sub-county.

“I did not know what case had been brought against my daughter. A Police woman in uniform and another man came on boda boda and took her,” Nakayiwa told a press conference at the chambers of Patrick Kituuma-Magala on Amber House in Kampala.

She claimed that the girl went missing on September 1, after being released on bond from Kiwoko Police Station, where she had spent a night over assaulting a fellow minor.

However, when interrogated after the girl was found, Nakayiwa said she conspired with Nsereko to hide the girl in Masaka.

“Our neighbours in the village hate us. They connived with the Police to arrest my daughter. Yet I couldn’t settle the case without giving the Police some money. I wanted the Police also to suffer,” Nakayiwa said during interrogations in a press conference held at the Kampala Central Police Station on Saturday.

Earlier, the girl had told reporters that when the Police released her, she suspected she was given chloroform by her step-parents before they “dumped” her in Masaka.

“Nsereko gave me bananas and black tea but I lost my senses after eating,” she said.

She regained her senses in Masaka, she added.

The Police spokesperson, Judith Nabakooba, said Nsereko denied the allegations that Nakaseke court had issued arrest warrants against the chief of the criminal investigations directorate, Edward Ochom, Police chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura along with other senior officers over the alleged abduction of the girl.

“Nsereko and Nakayiwa accused us of abducting their child. We now expect court to take action against them after the truth has come out,” Ochom said.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});