Kampala, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | Kampala Capital City Hall Court has remanded 62-year-old Muhammuddu Iddi Zingo alias Taata Medi to Luzira prison on charges of aggravated defilement of his four granddaughters.
Zingo who is alleged to have defiled and infected the minors aged three, six and nine with HIV/AIDS on Wednesday 5, April 2023 was arraigned before court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Jane Tibagozenka for plea taking.
The Court has heard that between March 2020 and 2022, Zingo a resident of Namuli zone in Bukoto Kampala Central unlawfully performed sexual acts with the three girls well knowing that he is HIV positive.
In a separate file, prosecution also alleges that on March 25, 2023, he unlawfully performed sexual acts with a three-year-old girl.
In an interview with the mother of the three-year-old, who requested to speak on condition of anonymity, said she reported to Kira Road Police after noticing changes in her child’s movement.
“I always leave my daughter at my mother’s house everyday as I go to work because I have nowhere to leave her and my mother shares the compound with the suspect, who is her brother,” she said.
The mother said she always comes back with dates which they normally eat while breaking their fast late in the evening. She further claimed that on the fateful day, the suspect lured her daughter into his house, promising to give her more dates and then defiled her.
The mother also noted that her three-year-old daughter was put on Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) for six months while other victims did not get a chance to be taken to hospital early since they decided to keep quiet.
The suspect Zingo, however, has not been allowed to say anything to the charges read against him on grounds that the City Hall Magistrate doesn’t have the powers to try the case of aggravated defilement because it is capital in nature.
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The Magistrate has informed him that such charges can be tried by the High Court which has the jurisdiction also to grant him bail if he so wishes to apply for it.
In the meantime Zingo has been remanded until 26th April, 2023 as investigations continue.
The penal Code Act provides for a maximum sentence of death on charges of aggravated defilement.
The Annual Crime Report of Police released a month ago showed that in 2022 over 8,960 cases of defilement were reported to police countrywide compared to 10,653 cases reported in 2021
