Soroti rape victim faults police

Soroti- When Sarah Angeno left Gulu in search of a job that would help her fend for her young siblings, she thought Soroti would be the answer to her problem.
She did find a job but that dream was shattered when the 18-year-old was raped by her supervisor, an Indian attached to a construction firm in Soroti.

She reported the matter to police but Angeno says instead of getting justice, she has been threatened by some police officers attached to Soroti Central Police Station from taking the case to human rights activists.

On the fateful day of November 14, at Soroti SS, Angeno says the man raped her as she cleaned one of the apartments that the Indians resided. They had secured a contract from the ministry of education to construct classroom blocks at the school.
“He told me to clean his apartment but minutes later I heard him closing the door after which he turned on me and raped me,” she says.

The arrest
Angeno says she then reported the case to police, leading to the arrest of the suspect but after three days he was called to the police station, where she was brought before the Indians and asked to settle the case, something that was against her will.

“A Japadohola man, working with the Indians was the translator between police and the Indians. They locked me up in one of the offices with other Indians who did the bargaining with police.”

“They settled at Shs4 million. This is not what I wanted, I had gone to police to seek justice,” she narrates to this writer with tears flowing down her checks.

“The money was then distributed amongst the people in the room. They pushed some of it in my pocket, but then pulled it out to deduct some amount. They gave me the balance and ordered me off the police premises,” she adds.

Medical examination
“I went for a medical checkup on my own after the police claimed they had no money to conduct the examination. It shatters me when I think about the whole ordeal.”
When contacted on phone, Mr Ayub Waiswa, the OC CID Soroti Central Police Station denied knowledge of the forced negotiations, saying the file had been sent to the resident state attorney, Mr Samuel Ejoku Onyu for sanctioning.
It has been two weeks now and the suspect has not been arraigned in courts of law. Mr Waiswa said the girl reported the case to police and an investigation was conducted to merit the legality of the case.

However, an insider who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, confirmed the negotiation, adding that the case might be weakened due to the fact that officers ‘ate the money’.

Mr Phillips Acaye, the Regional police commander east Kyoga, said the suspect was released on police bond but police would act if the resident district state attorney brings the case before court.

Police conspiracy
The connivance. Some elements in the police have been cited as conspiring with perpetrators of rape to frustrate such cases with the most recent one being a 23-year-old woman who was raped by a group of five Pakistan men.
Not willing to co-operate. However, the police maintains that whereas there are come police office who connive with rapists, some of the cases are frustrated by relatives and sometimes the victims themselves because they are not willing to co-operate.
Call for action. Activists want the government to swiftly act on rapists.

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