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Boda boda rider detained on charges of raping seven female passengers
Police in Mukono District have detained a boda boda rider on allegations of raping his female passengers. Representative photo
What you need to know:
- He is accused of targeting his unsuspecting passengers and raping them in isolated areas after putting them on knife point
Police in Mukono District have detained a boda boda rider on allegations of raping his female passengers.
Asumani Owere, a 30-year-old resident of Kitega Village, Kawolo Sub County in Buikwe District is accused of targeting his unsuspecting passengers and raping them in isolated areas after putting them on knife point.
“Owere is also alleged to have robbed his victims of their belongings after raping them. Seven rape victims have reported cases at police where two of the victims have positively identified Owere as their attacker,” police said in a statement.
Past incidents
Owere is not the first Ugandan boda boda rider to be accused of raping passengers.
In May 2018, police in Kampala arrested a 29-year-old boda boda rider for allegedly raping his 19-year-old passenger, a German national.
The teenager had reportedly sought motorcycle services from the suspect, to ride from a bar in Kololo to her residence in Buziga when he instead took an opposite route.
His route would lead him to a bushy area in Kawanda, Kawempe where he allegedly abused his passenger by having canal knowledge with her and also robbing her of $1200.
Amidst the scuffle however, the victim noted the motorcycle registration number as UDR 472B which police used to trace, identify and apprehend the suspect.
The suspect told police that he always had sexual fantasies and desire of having canal knowledge with female whites and saw this as a God sent opportunity.
A year earlier, the High Court in Kampala had in convicted a 40-year old boda boda rider for raping a 50-year-old woman.
Yasiin Mutesasira, boda boda operator in Kabanyoro Village, Nangabo Sub-county, Wakiso District appeared in a session presided over by Justice Wilson Kwesiga and was convicted on the evidence from the main prosecution witness who was his victim, Ms Mariam Namirembe.
Ms Namirembe was Mutesasira’s client at the time of the offence.
“…evidence from prosecution proved the offence of rape against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Mutesasira you are accordingly convicted,” Justice Kwesiga said on July 7, 2017.
According to the judge, the victim being a mature woman of sound mind, she clearly told court how the offender transported her on his boda boda until they reached some distant bushes where he wrestled her to the ground, tore her knickers and had sexual intercourse with her.
