Rights defender cries foul over car vandalism

Police in Kampala are investigating acts of vandalism of a motor vehicle belonging to a human rights defender.

In the wee hours of July 31, unknown thugs jumped over the parameter wall fence of Mr Moses Omiat home in Kampala, descended on his car, and vandalised it.

The thugs plucked off the driving mirrors and dismantled the radio system and dashboard. They also pricked the tyres and dismantled the central lock system.

Police detectives at Kira Road was called into action. They visited the crime scene and captured fingerprints.

Case
Mr Richard Katabala, the CID officer at Kira Police Station, said a case of malicious damage had been recorded at the station.

“At the scene of crime, we established that those who vandalised the vehicle climbed the perimeter wall at an unknown time without being noticed. They removed the side mirrors, the radio, and the system of the locks,” Mr Katabala said at the weekend.
He added that the investigations are ongoing.

Mr Omiat told Monitor that this was the fourth time unknown thugs were targeting and vandalising his car in about two years.  “This is targeted vandalism. The thugs just come to destroy parts of the car as they don’t take them away,” Mr Omiat said in an interview.

Suspicious act
“The acts of vandalism are cruel as most of the parts are destroyed when being removed.  Ordinary thieves would want to sell the spare parts, but these ones just destroy and leave them here,” Mr Omiat said.

He thinks the thugs are part of a group of people disturbing him over his Serere ancestral land, which the High Court last year, ruled in his favour ‘‘but local government and politicians haven’t given me  vacant possession to utilise it’’.