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Doctor remanded for attempting to sell baby
Left to right: Suspects facing charges of attempted child trafficking in persons and conspiracy to commit human trafficking Kenneth Kayonde, Dr Gerald Akankwasa, and Ms Christine Nambi in the dock at Mwanga II Magistrate’s Court in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO / ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Appearing before Mwanga II Magistrate’s Court in Kampala yesterday, Dr Gerald Akankwasa, 40, denied two counts which included attempted trafficking in persons and conspiracy to commit an offence.
Court has remanded a doctor over charges of attempting to traffic a three-month-old baby to South Sudan.
Appearing before Mwanga II Magistrate’s Court in Kampala yesterday, Dr Gerald Akankwasa, 40, denied two counts which included attempted trafficking in persons and conspiracy to commit an offence.
Dr Akankwasa was charged alongside Kenneth Kayonde, a 33-year-old pharmaceutical salesman based in Juba, South Sudan, and Ms Christine Nambi, a 30-year-old housewife. The two also denied the charges.
The accused presented sureties and applied for bail.
Sureties questioned
While the prosecutor, Mr David Lukwago, did not raise any objection against Dr Akankwasa and Kayonde’s sureties, the trial magistrate, Mr Timothy Lumunye, raised a red flag after the sureties were in his assessment deemed not to be sure of their local council chairpersons.
Mr Lumunye, however, released Ms Nambi on a cash bail of Shs5m and her sureties bonded at Shs10m not cash before adjourning the matter to September 27 for mention.
Prosecution contends that on September 8, at Star Royal Motel in Makindye Division, Wakiso District, the trio, while using criminal intentions offered Shs20m to Josephine Nassaka to traffic a three-month-old baby to South Sudan.
Police records indicate that they received information on August 8 that Dr Akankwasa was looking for a child to buy for his South Sudan client known as Monica Akello.
Police then used a sting operation to implicate the suspects.
“Make a Child Smile [a charity organisation] was dispatched with a young baby of three months to verify the information and trap the suspects who were reported to be looking for a child to buy,” the police records read in part.
Mr Kayondo, Dr Akankwasa and Ms Nambi met the team with the child and its parents at Star Royal Motel, and offered Shs20m to purchase the child.
Huge sums wrapped in western union envelopes were recovered from the car the trio was using.
