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Court gives DPP 3 weeks to present witnesses in case against Arinaitwe
SP Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana, 43, a Detective Superintendent of police seen in the dock on August 10, 2023 at Buganda Road Court. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Mr Kayizzi adjourned the case to February 7 when the State is expected to present its witnesses.
- This followed submissions by State Attorney Judith Nyamwiza who said she was unable to secure witnesses because they were not accessible via the telephone contacts that are on the court record.
Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has given the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) three weeks to produce witnesses in a case in which a senior police officer is accused of human trafficking involving sexual exploitation of a housemaid.
Presiding Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi warned that he will drop the charges against Mr Gilbert Bwana Arinaitwe if the state fails to present evidence against him.
“The accused person was first arraigned before court on August 10, 2023, and it is now five months since he was charged. No witness has ever been brought to court to testify against the officer who is on interdiction, receiving a half pay of his salary and not deployed anywhere. If the accused committed any crime, prosecute him or I will dismiss the case for want of prosecution,” the magistrate said.
Mr Kayizzi adjourned the case to February 7 when the State is expected to present its witnesses.
This followed submissions by State Attorney Judith Nyamwiza who said she was unable to secure witnesses because they were not accessible via the telephone contacts that are on the court record.
The 43-year-old Arinaitwe, who is currently out on bail, is facing a charge of aggravated trafficking in persons contrary to Section 3(1)(a) and (4)(h) of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009.
He has since pleaded not guilty to the offence. If found guilty, Arinaitwe faces a maximum penalty of death by hanging.
The DPP alleges that on June 23 last year, Arinaitwe and others still at large either recruited, maintained, confined, transported, transferred, harboured, received or facilitated the aforementioned acts on Joan Namukasa.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga last year said Arinaitwe brought the victim from Ntungamo District to work as a maid at his home in Nalumunye-Bandwe, Kyengera Town Council, Wakiso District.
Ms Namukasa told the police that on July 25, Arinaitwe raped her at gunpoint. She added that this was repeated on seven other occasions where she was threatened not to report the matter.
It is also alleged that Arinaitwe confined her in the house with little or no food and later refused to pay her salary.
She later told a friend about her alleged predicament, who passed on the information to the local council defence secretary.
ABOUT ARINAITWE
Mr Gilbert Bwana Arinaitwe, 43, rose to the limelight in 2011 when he smashed Opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye’s car and pepper-sprayed his eyes at Mulago Roundabout to stop him from attending a demonstration.
