Police in Arua District have arrested 35-years-old Victor Emvi over the alleged defilement of his 12 year old stepdaughter.
A police statement signed by regional spokesperson, Ms Josephine Angucia indicated that the incident happened on the night of November 19, 2022 when their mother left them at home and went for a funeral rite.
“When the mother returned home the next day on November 20, 2022, she narrated what her step father did to her at night during the absence of the mother. The victim’s mother reported first to the LC1 chairman before she alerted the relatives who later took the report to Vurra Police Station. Acase file on aggravated defilement has been opened and investigations have started,” in part read the statement.
The police says that the casefile was compiled and forwarded to Resident State Attorney Arua for legal advice and sanctioning, upon sanctioning of the casefile, the suspect will be forwarded to court to answer to the charge of aggravated defilement.
“The case has been registered as aggravated defilement partly because the step father of this girl child victim has authority over her and he is supposed to be the one to protect the child from such nasty acts instead of being the perpetrator. It’s a capital offence only triable by the high Court and the maximum punishment to those convicted guilty is to suffer death,” Ms Angucia said in an interview.
Police reports in the West Nile region indicate that there is a rising number of defilement cases many of which are never reported as the parents of the victims and perpetuates prefer to negotiate these locally.
The same reports indicated that between 2018 and 2022, only about 1900 cases of defilement have been documented by the authorities and yet the real number on ground could triple the figure. SP Angucia advised parents to always be in protection of their children instead of violating their rights and always be mindful of the people they leave their children with.“We advise Parents and guardians to always protect their children instead of violating their rights by doing such nasty acts on them. Besides that, when not around, they should entrust their children with responsible people in order to prevent them becoming victims of such circumstances.”
