Court threatens to throw out human trafficking case against ‘Besigye tormentor’ over lack of evidence

Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s court has threatened to throw out a case against police detective Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana aka ‘Besigye tormentor’ due to lack of evidence.

Arinaitwe was in August 2023 charged with aggravated trafficking in persons and later released on bail. It is alleged that Arinaitwe recruited, transported, and harboured his 23-year-old housemaid for purposes of sexual exploitation on June 23, 2023, at his home in Nalumunye-Bandwe, Kyengera town council.

Now, Buganda Road chief magistrate Ronald Kayizzi has given a three-week ultimatum to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) to produce witnesses else he will dismiss the case at the next hearing session scheduled for February 7. The ultimatum came after the prosecution led by Judith Nyamwiza informed the court that the witnesses could not be traced through their known telephone numbers.

Kayizzi ruled that if Arinaitwe committed any crime, the state should come ready to prosecute him. He observed that Arinaitwe who is on interdiction, receiving half pay, and not deployed was charged on August 10, 2023, and for five months, no single witness has ever testified against him.

According to preliminary investigations, the victim intimated to her friend how she had been raped more than seven times and confined with no or little food at all on top of being not paid a salary.

The investigations show that the friend contacted the area’s local defense secretary who moved to rescue the victim from Arinaitwe’s home and accompanied her to make a formal report at Nateete police station. She is currently under the care of a non-governmental organization. The maximum sentence for aggravated trafficking in person is life imprisonment.

Arinaitwe rose to the limelight after he infamously pepper-sprayed opposition doyen Dr Kizza Besigye after smashing the window of his car with a pistol in 2011 ago at Mulago roundabout. He later became a self-proclaimed pastor and also suffered and recovered from mental illness.