Busia father knocks out 6-year-old son’s teeth in gross child abuse
A clinical officer examines the 6-year-old child's body for torture marks at Busia Central Police Station Health Centre I. The child reportedly serious injuries at the hands of his father. PHOTO/DAVID AWORI
What you need to know:
- Police say if arrested, the fugitive father faces charges related to child torture and neglect, contrary to the Ugandan law.
A six-year-old boy in Tabong Village, Tiira Town Council, Busia District, has reportedly lost all incisors in his lower jaw, and bears torture marks and abrasions on the body after allegedly being physically abused by his father.
The boy accuses his father Ochugo Apetai of repeatedly torturing him over a three-week period using blunt objects, hoe handles and beer empties, leaving him bleeding with severe head injuries.
Apetai, a businessman and commercial farmer, reportedly picked Mukisa from his maternal grandfather three weeks ago, claiming he was enrolling him at school, only to subject him to torture.
“Since he got me from my grandfather’s home where I was staying, he has been beating me on a daily basis using beer empties and hoe handles,” the child told Monitor at the weekend.
The boy, who looks malnourished, further accuses his father and stepmother of denying him food, saying: “They prepare meals and eat with my stepbrothers and sisters, leaving me to only wait to eat leftovers.”
According to him, the day he lost all his lower jaw front teeth, he had tried to request for some food from his father, who got angered and used a beer empty to extract all his incisors.
Apetai is said to have separated with the victim’s mother when he was barely a year old, and since then, he has been staying with his maternal grandfather identified as Godfrey Mayende.
Mayende testified at Busia Police Station, where he had gone to file a case of child torture and neglect against Apetai, that the youngster was picked from his home by his father three weeks ago, claiming was going to enroll him in school.
“I have stayed with this victim, since he was barely one year old and he was a healthy boy at the time his father picked him,” he said.
He added: “But I was surprised when the father brought him back on February 29, 2024 and dumped him next to my home and ran away thinking he was dead.”
Mayende further observe that the child is “malnourished, bore fresh and old torture marks on the head, face, stomach, back, legs and all his lower incisors were missing.”
Victor Odwori, a lawyer who was at Busia Police Station when the case was being registered, said the injuries on the victim’s body are “consistent with grave child abuse and such acts violate the Children’s Act, and the law on torture.”
Meanwhile, a case of child torture and neglect had been recorded by the police at the weekend.
Bukedi Region South police spokesperson Moses Mugwe said investigations are ongoing, promising that fugitive Apetai will be arraigned in court to face related charges once arrested.
