Prison sodomy victim petitions Speaker Kadaga
Prisoners at Luzira. When Daily Monitor contacted the spokesperson of Uganda Prisons Services, Mr Frank Baine, he wondered why Mugoya has waited for all this long to make the allegations. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- When Daily Monitor contacted the spokesperson of Uganda Prisons Services, Mr Frank Baine, he wondered why Mugoya has waited for all this long to make the allegations. “I do not entirely agree with what he says. Why wait for a whole year to tell a story about something as serious as that?” Mr Baine said.
Kampala. Mr Peter Mugoya, 21, who says he was sodomised and infected with HIV while on remand in Luzira prison, has petitioned Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, seeking government compensation.
Mugoya was a casual labourer, but is now jobless. He says it is hard for him to get food and cannot take antiretroviral drugs on an empty stomach.
“On September 2, circumcision was brought to prison and prisoners who were willing to embrace the opportunity did so,” Mugoya says in the November 26 petition to the Speaker of Parliament.
“I happened to be among the prisoners who did so. Before proceeding with the circumcision, I was tested for HIV/Aids and my results were negative,” he states.
However, Mugoya says, about three weeks later as he was bathing and dressing his wound, a prisoner he identified as Yoweri pounced on him and sodomised him.
“I screamed and fellow prisoners came to my rescue. On November 17, I went to a health centre for an HIV/Aids test and the results came out that I was positive. Prisons should compensate me because when the magistrate remanded me to Luzira I was HIV negative,” Mugoya states.
He wants Ms Kadaga to intervene in his case so that the culprit who he says has since been transferred to another prison is held to account.
He claims the Prisons authorities have treated his case casually and have since moved some of the witnesses to other detention facilities.
Prison authorities say...
When Daily Monitor contacted the spokesperson of Uganda Prisons Services, Mr Frank Baine, he wondered why Mugoya has waited for all this long to make the allegations. “I do not entirely agree with what he says. Why wait for a whole year to tell a story about something as serious as that?” Mr Baine said.
“Fortunately, he knows who sodomised him; let him sue…” he added. Mugoya says he lives with a Good Samaritan in Bugolobi suburb. His mother, Freda Akello, ekes out a living from tailoring while his father is a peasant in Tororo District.
