Police officers charged over arresting bride at wedding

Police officers who arrested a bride at her wedding on Saturday in Mbarara City, have been slapped with indiscipline offences as the Police Professional Standards Unit investigates suspected collusion with the complainant. 

The investigating officer in the case was arrested, but his colleagues escaped and are on the run. 

The officers, dressed in plain-clothes, are said to have stormed a wedding reception at Kakiika Technical School, causing chaos. 

They later arrested Ms Christine Natuhera, the bride, after a hot pursuit on allegations that she stole Shs8 million while she was working at a financial institution in Mbarara City.

The police spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga, said their officers will be charged with discreditable conduct, an indiscipline offence that attracts dismissal from the police force on conviction. 

“The investigating officer has been arrested. The others are on the run,” Mr Enanga said yesterday.

He said the case was still under investigation and the file had been sanctioned. Mr Enanga accused the officers of exercising poor judgment and going ahead to arrest the suspect. 

The crime case file had earlier been sent to the State Attorney, but the prosecutor told the police to drop the charges since it was civil in nature. 

It is alleged that the complainant, Mr Henry Mirembe, wasn’t satisfied and contacted the police officers to rebuild a case against Natuhera. 

The officers allegedly resubmitted the file again and it was sanctioned. 

The new process is still under investigations by the police authorities to establish whether there wasn’t connivance with the complaint to push the file or not.

Armed with a sanctioned file, the officers raided the wedding reception and disrupted the function, an act that was condemned by the police leadership. 

On Sunday, the Rwizi Regional Police Commander, Mr Ezekiel Emitu Ebapu, ordered the immediate release of Ms Natuhera from custody.

Mr Arnold Musinguzi Mugisha of Mubiru & Aruho Associated Advocates, the lawyer for Mr Mirembe, yesterday petitioned Mr Emitu accusing him of sabotaging a court case that had already been sanctioned by the Mbarara regional public prosecutions officer.

“We are demanding for his explanation over his acts and if he does not give us the explanation, we are going to write to the Inspectorate of Government, Inspector General of Police, and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate the way this file has been handled,” Mr Musinguzi said.

Mr Musinguzi said the release of the suspect jeopardised the court processes. “The suspect was supposed to appear before court yesterday to answer the charges of theft,” he said.

Mr Emitu said the complainant has a habit of misleading police officers at Mbarara Central Police Station and that the case did not necessitate the suspect to be arrested from her wedding reception.

 “The arrest was not sanctioned by me, it was not sanctioned by the DPC, or the OC-CID. This was merely an arrangement with the complainant with the errant officers to go and embarrass the bride,” he said.