The Director of Public Prosecutions, (DPP) Jane Frances Abodo, has been petitioned amid dssatisfaction over charging a head teacher accused of defiling a 14-year-old girl with only one count of aggravated child trafficking.
The accused is Wilson Habiyakale, the headmaster of Chuho Primary School in Kisoro district, on counts of defiling a 14-year-old girl at Mother Mary Primary School.
Augustine Akineza, a pro bono officer, through his lawyers of M/s MNA advocates argues that this could be a deliberate move to deny the victim justice, as in a complaint dated March 30, 2022. He wants the DPP to direct for the transfer of the file to Kampala and reallocate it to another state attorney for proper handling.
The complaint letter indicates that on March 14, 2022, the accused (Habiyakale) was arraigned in court, but Akineza says to their dismay, the Kisoro resident state attorney (not mentioned) presented a charge sheet with only one count of aggravated child trafficking without a probable and provable charge of aggravated defilement.
According to the petitioner, this could be a deliberate action or an omission by the state attorney to present a charge sheet with one count of aggravated child trafficking, contrary to his earlier position in which he had sanctioned a charge sheet with two counts.
“Our client inquired from the regional CID officer Kigezi region who had called the file to the region for perusal following complaints of earlier mishandling and failure to arrest the suspect by Police at CPS Kisoro and was informed that there are two counts on the sanctioned charge sheet on file,” the petition reads.
M/s MNA Advocates says to date, their client does not understand the motive of the Kisoro resident state attorney in ignoring his earlier sanction charge sheet that included the count of aggravated defilement with provable evidence.
“Our client does not understand why the state attorney opted to present a charge sheet with one count of aggravated child trafficking with intent to have sexual intercourse with a minor despite the fact that sexual intercourse was a proven fact as per the medical evidence on file,” the petitioner said.
The petitioner further claims that there is an attempt to abduct the victim from the school by relatives of the victim at the instigation of the relatives of the accused person who are senior politicians in the district so as to destroy evidence since the victim is a principal state witness in the case. Akineza wants the DPP to liaise with the Police and the Ministry of Education to provide a safe place for the victim, who is the principal witness in the matter because schools are closing for holidays in about three weeks’ time.
The petitioner is also suspicious that there is a direct link between the accused and the state attorney claiming that on March 28, 2022, the accused did not appear in court on the orders of the state attorney who claimed to be indisposed.
Context
On February 25, 2022, the management of Mother Mary Primary School in Kisoro district received information from a 14-year-old girl that she had been sexually assaulted by the head teacher of Chuho Primary School.
As a result, a complaint was opened at the Central Police Station in Kisoro district and recorded under SD40/03/03/2022 and later CRB 135/2022.
After thorough medical examination on Police form 3A at Shaza Health Centre III, it was revealed that the victim had no hymen on account of having been sexually molested.
The girl argues that the headteacher had sexual intercourse with her twice against her will.