Kampala, Uganda | URN | There is heavy security deployment in and around Kampala Capital City Mortuary where the body of suspected German paedophile Bernhard Glaser Berry is being held.
Dozens of both uniformed and plain cloth security officers have deployed strategically around the facility. Those accessing the mortuary are screened at the roundabout near the mortuary. There is another check point at the entrance of the mortuary, which is unusual.
The Kampala Metropolitan Area Police Spokesperson, Patrick Onyango, says they deployed heavily after receiving information that the deceased’s lawyers had plan to hold a press.
According to Onyango, the mortuary is a place for medical workers to conduct postmortem, the bereaved family and Police Officers following up matters of questionable deaths but not a place for press briefings.
Earlier on the deceased’s lawyer, Evans Ochieng told this publication that preparations are underway to conduct postmortem and discuss how to dispose of the body through cremation.
According to Ochieng, prior to his death, Glaser who doesn’t have any relatives in Uganda willed that he should be cremated. Glaser, 73, succumbed to cancer at Luzira Murchison Bay Prison in Kampala on Thursday 7th May, 2020 morning.
The deceased was the founder of Ssese Humanitarian Services, a community based organisation on Mwena Landing Site in Kalangala District. Glaser has battling 19 charges related to indecent assault, aggravated defilement and child trafficking.
He was accused of defiling several girls under his care between 2007 and 2013. Glaser was first arrested in November 2013 after two girls under his care accused him of sexual abuse. He was subsequently detained for more than two months.
However, in 2015, Justice John Eudes Keitirima dismissed the charges against him for lack of evidence, only for government to reinstate the charges in February 2019.
Glaser had secured bail to seek treatment a day prior to his death. He was however, returned to prisons after failure to pay the Shillings 30 million bail fees.
The deceased’s other lawyer, Hamuza Kamara, says that they had mobilized up to Shillings 10 million in Kalangala by the time their client was declared dead. Glaser’s body will be cremated at Kololo crematorium later today.
