School director held over defiling six P7 candidates
This publication has learnt that the parents of the affected children and concerned residents raised the red flag over the matter on October 25. Photo/File
What you need to know:
The director, who is also a medical practitioner by training, procured an abortion for one of the victims.
A director of a school in Luweero District is behind bars on allegations of defiling six of the candidates who are set to sit the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) tomorrow.
The director, whose name we have withheld because the matter is still under police investigations, is also accused of quietly procuring an abortion for one of the pupils in the boarding section after realising that she was pregnant.
The director is a medical practitioner by training.
“The suspect committed the alleged criminal offences between the months of September and October 2023. The medical forms so far received confirm that the pupils were sexually abused but further investigations are ongoing,” the Savana Region Police spokesperson, Mr Sam Twineamazima, confirmed yesterday.
This publication has learnt that the parents of the affected children and concerned residents raised the red flag over the matter on October 25.
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They passed the information to the Luweero District Probation Office in confidence, leading to the districts arrest on October 29.
“I registered complaints from parents of the victims about the sexual abuse cases by the school director and quickly contacted the police and the other relevant authorities for action. It is unfortunate the suspect is even a medical worker attached to one of the district health facilities,” Ms Joyce Namigadde, the district probation officer, said in an interview.
Those privy to the investigations claimed the director had a habit of luring the pupils, especially the female ones, to his home for “special coaching”.
This publication could not independently verify the information about the health facility where the school director conducted the abortion.
However, one of the defilement victims in her statement to the investigators, claimed the health facility is not very far from their school.
How his arrest came about
When one of the victims appeared before a team of police investigators and the district probation team to get more details about their alleged defilement by the director, she had an intravenous cannula (IV) on her left hand, prompting the team to inquire more into her health status.
The victim reportedly revealed that the school director had taken her to a clinic two weeks ago for treatment.
When further probed about the kind of sickness being treated, the victim confessed to have procured an abortion with the help of the director.
The police said they were yet to verify the information given to them about the alleged pregnancy that will only be investigated after the pupils finish their papers on Wednesday.
A police officer, who preferred not to be named, said they had temporarily halted getting statements from the pupils given that they are already in examination season.
“We shall continue with the investigations after the children finish their final papers,” he said.
The PLE starts tomorrow with Mathematics and Social Studies. Science and English will be written on day two.
A total of 749,371 candidates are expected to sit for this year’s PLE.
The 2022 Police Crime Report released early this year put Luweero District among the districts that registered the highest defilement cases with a total of 166 cases.
Of the 166 cases, 66 were classified as aggravated cases.
Similar incident
The arrest of the school director comes barely three days after a secondary school director in Makindye Division in Kampala District was paraded before court before being sent to Luzira prison on allegations of confining Senior Four students over unpaid fees.
Mr Celestine Kasolo, 48, of Kisugu High School, who appeared before the Makindye Magistrates Court on Thursday last week, denied the 12 charges preferred against him.
He denied charges of causing disturbances during national examinations contrary to Section 30(1) of the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) Act, 2021, and wrongful confinement contrary to Section 248 of the Penal Code Act, among others.
