Ritual sacrifice survivor yet to get justice, eight years later
Stephen Ssembatya and his daughter Hope at Rakai Magistrates Court. File photo
From the car, she was carried by one of her caretakers. She is then placed in a wheelchair and wheeled into Rakai Magistrates Court. Inside the courtroom, during the proceedings, she is held like a baby of two years.
At nine years, Hope would be going to school like other children her age because she was born a normal child. But she cannot sit; hold anything or even feed herself.
The fourth out of seven children, Hope would be in Primary Three. Today, she is fed on fluids only because she cannot chew and her mental wellbeing was damaged due to a weakened body.
A medical report indicates that she sustained permanent mental and physical disability.
Hope is in the courtroom because the hearing of a case in which a witchdoctor, Stephen Wasswa is charged for allegedly stealing a child with the intention to cause grievous harm and subjecting a one year old toddler to body mutilation is underway.
Wasswa was re-arrested last month from Mukono District where he had been hiding after jumping court bail pending trial in 2010, since he eluded prosecution.
He was arrested in a joint operation of the police in partnership with local child rights organisation, Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM) and two United States based organisations; Engage Now Africa End Modern Slavery (ENA) and Freedom Now International (FNI).
Court documents indicate that the accused person was charged with his twin brother only identified as Kato, who was killed by the mob in Masaka in 2008 after recovery of the girl by the road side.
Chris Gay, the nanaging director of ENA says they began tracking the accused person since July 2015 until December when they were tipped about his where about.
According to the charge sheet, the state alleges that on July 19, 2008, Wasswa abducted a one and half year old girl from Namiyaga village in Rakai District, detained and mutilated her body parts.
What they say
Hope’s father Stephen Ssembatya, 40, says that the situation of their beloved child has greatly affected the family because the disability has caused them trauma and distress every time they visit and see her inactive.
The tearful father says; “We expected our child to study and become a doctor who would help us and this nation too but we lost all that.”
Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga, the director of KCM, says part of Hope’s brain was completely damaged because she was kept in a place with less oxygen and draining of too much blood from her body during the detention.
“After thorough check and trials, doctors have concluded that she will never be able to walk or even move because she was malnourished for long. And because of that, we hired a 24-hour caretaker to clean and feed her. But also she undergoes daily physiotherapy,” says Sewakiryanga.
Describing Hope’s disability as a ‘life time’ problem, Sewakiryanga says the girl will be disconnected from her family due to the economic inability of the parents to cater for the requirements to maintain her.
“The girl has a complicated problem in life but we are trying with the resources available to make her survive as a hope that children survivors of ritual sacrifice can still live. But the challenge is that the evil of ritual sacrifice is on the increase in our society and has changed tactics,” says Sewakiryanga.
Attributing the persistent problem to fear of the people to report and testify against the perpetrators, Sewakiryanga also decries lack of awareness creation the people from the responsible authorities which he says has increased impunity in the country.
“The cases of ritual sacrifice are caused as a result of poverty where our people are deceived to think that killing a child or a human being would bring wealth.”
He adds, that there is also lack of resources to deal with the vice because it requires a lot of resources to deal with the problem including taking care of the grieved families as they deal with trauma. “There is difficulty in distinguishing between a herbalist and a witchdoctor.”
In Court
In his testimony before court in Rakai, Ssembatya said Wasswa stole his child who was one year and seven months and performed rituals on her which affected her mental and physical health.
“He warned me over his twin brother’s chicken which ate poison in my wife’s garden and after two weeks my child got lost. He (Wasswa) asked me if I was well in my family and warned that he would do anything to make me lose everything,” he narrated the ordeal.
He said that the girl was recovered after one and half years from Kinoni, Masaka District by one Agnes Nankya who took her to the hospital.
“When Wasswa (accused) heard about this news, he went to the hospital where he met with this woman taking care of the child. He asked the caretaker whether she is the one who picked the girl and as who? He asked Nankya to return the child to the very place where she was picked her,” Ssembatya narrated before Rakai Grade One Magistrate, Latiff Nakibinge.
Ssembatya testified that Nankya reported the matter of threatening violence and Wasswa was identified at a suspects’ parade by Kinoni Police.
Allegation:
Wasswa, who is on remand to Rakai Prison until April 28 is charged with alleged child stealing where the state alleges that on July 19, 2008 at Namiyaga village in Rakai district, he illegally detained a child under 14 years.
But Sembatya explained that the girl was found tied in the sack by one of the bushes in Kinoni, her teeth removed, the tongue half cut and had cuts on the stomach too.
“This situation made my child crippled. She cannot sit on her own, walk, chew and she even does not grow,” Ssembatya, a boda boda rider lamented to court.
Wasswa was further remanded to Rakai Prison until April 28 this year for hearing of the application by the state to amend the charges.
Currently Cases
According to Sewakiryanga, a total of five cases have been registered this month (April) alone with one child killed and buried in Matugga, one survived attempted sacrifice at Kagoma and police in Kasangati investigating another case of two missing children (all in Wakiso District).
In Mbale, investigations are ongoing into allegations where one child was allegedly sacrificed and two others went missing, while in Sembabule, inquiries are ongoing into the killing of a child and an adult.
Before High Court in Kampala, a father and witchdoctor face charges of aggravated trafficking of persons in connection with the killing of a two months child.
