Kampala, Uganda | URN | A woman who allegedly forced her 14-year-old daughter into prostitution has been arrested. The woman identified as Zura Mukamana, 36, was arrested by Katwe Police Station after reports emerged that she ‘sold’ her daughter to two different men.
Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire says that the men who had sex with the minor have also been arrested. Police identified the male suspects as Fred Bulega, 41, and John Mwesigye, 18.
Mukamana’s arrest followed a video that went viral on social media in which the 14-year-old girl claimed that she was being forced by her own mother to have sexual intercourse with the two men.
Before the viral video, Mukamana had reported a case of a missing child at Salama and police started investigations into the matter. But during investigations, police found the girl at her father’s home where she had run for refuge.
Angered by the daughter’s revelation, her father took the girl to police and investigations led to the arrest of Mwesigye. The girl who is now 5 months pregnant said she feared to report the case because there wasn’t anybody she could trust. Mukamana reportedly lied to the local authorities that the girl’s father had died some years back.
Police said both case files with a range of offences will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions for perusal and sanctioning as soon as investigations are done.
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In the meantime, police are looking for psychology or counselling experts to provide counselling to the girl, while the mother is held at Katwe police station.
Katwe is known as crime hub in Kampala with more than 800 defilement cases registered in the area in 2019. During the year, police recorded 13,000 defilement cases across the country, a reduction compared to 15,000 sexual offences against minors in 2018.
