Police rescue woman chained in Luweero church
Police in Luweero District on Tuesday stormed a born- again church to rescue a 23-year- old woman reportedly chained by a Pentecostal pastor in attempt to pray for her.
Luweero District Police Commander, Mr Benson Byaruhanga on Wednesday told this reporter that Ms Winnie Nakiwala was picked from a Rural Evangelical Church headed by Pastor Betty Kisakye located in Luweero Town Council.
Ms Nakiwala’s legs had been chained on a pole inside the church as the pastor reportedly tried to exorcise evil spirits from her.
“We received a complaint from Mr Livingstone Kiwanuka, the father of the girl who claimed that the pastor had refused to hand over his daughter yet he wanted to urgently take her to Butabika Mental Hospital for treatment. We treated this as unlawful confinement which called for our immediate action to have the girl handed over to her father,” Byaruhanga said on Wednesday.
While Ms Jane Nabitosi, the mother of the victim claims that she took her daughter to the church to be prayed for since she had suspected evil spirits that needed the intervention of a pastor, Mr Kiwanuka disagreed insisting that the girl was taken to the church without his consent.
Several members of the church where the girl was picked by police claim the chains are only used when the person being prayed for turned violent.
“We have had several people brought to the church to be prayed for and get healed. The chains are temporally applied when an individual becomes violent,” a church member who only identified herself as Mirembe claimed in an interview.
The police has meanwhile summoned the pastor to make a statement at police.
