No witnesses as Arinaitwe’s sex trafficking case stalls

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A case in which Detective Superintendent of Police Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana is accused of sexually trafficking his 23-year-old housemaid is on the verge of dismissal due to the absence of state witnesses.

Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has given a three-week ultimatum to the Director of Public Prosecutions to produce witnesses in this case or dismiss the case at the next hearing session scheduled for  February 7 for lack of evidence.

The ultimatum came after the prosecution led by Judith Nyamwiza informed the court presided over by Chief Magistrate Ronald  Kayizzi that the witnesses were unreachable on their telephone contacts.

It is against this background that the Chief Magistrate ruled that if Arinaitwe committed any crime, the State should come ready to prosecute him. He observed that the accused Officer who is on interdiction, receiving half pay, and not deployed was charged on August 10, 2023, and for five months, no witness has testified against him.

Arinaitwe was in August 2023 charged with Aggravated Trafficking in Persons and released on bail. It is alleged that Arinaitwe recruited,  transported, and harbored his 23-year-old housemaid for purposes of sexual exploitation on June 23, 2023, from his home in Nalumunye-Bandwe, Kyengera Town Council.

According to Police’s preliminary investigations,  the victim intimated to her friend how she had been raped more than seven times and confined with no or little food at all on top of being not paid a salary.

The investigations show that the friend contacted the area’s local defense secretary who moved to rescue the victim from Arinaitwe’s home and accompanied her to make a formal report at Nateete police station. She is currently under the care of a Non-Governmental organization.

The maximum sentence for aggravated trafficking in person is life Imprisonment

Arinaitwe rose to the limelight in 2011 during the Walk to Work protest against the then skyrocketing fuel prices when he pepper-sprayed the then President of the Forum for Democratic Change Party Dr. Kizza Besigye after smashing the window of his car with a pistol at Mulago roundabout in Kampala City.

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