Police in Kazo district working with the Criminal Intelligence in Kampala have rescued a 17-year-old girl and arrested 5 suspects for alleged kidnap and trafficking with intent to forcefully marry her off. The five were picked up from Kiruhura district on Monday.
They are Napoleon Kanzira, the alleged defiler, John Kwetesa, the father of the victim, Sam Arinaitwe, the uncle to the victim, John Katera, and his wife, Janet Karuza the owners of the home where the victim and suspect were found. These have been charged with child Kidnap, trafficking in persons, and aggravated defilement.
Police Spokesperson, Fred Enanga, says that the trafficking victim is currently being managed by a team of experts from the Police Gender Unit in Kampala. He explains that the facts gather by police intelligence show that the teenager was on her senior 4 vacation when her father reported a case of alleged disappearance at Nkungu Police Station in Kazo district last week.
He, however, says that investigations show that there was a conspiracy between the victim’s parents and Kanzira to abduct the teenager for marriage. They later forced her into a vehicle that was driven by one Arinaitwe, the uncle of the suspect.
He says that the suspects drove the victims to the home of John Katera, where she was sexually assaulted by the suspect who, upon arrest confessed to having committed the crime. Dan Muramuzi, the LC III chairperson of Nkungu Sub County told us that he wasn’t aware of the case but acknowledged that marrying off underage girls and kidnaps with intent to marry them off are real in his area.
Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi Region Spokesperson, says the case was handled in Kampala but hopefully it will be transferred back to Kazo where it all started for the suspects to appear in Court once the Director of Public Prosecutions sanctions the file.
