Jinja, Uganda | URN | Emmanuel Ayeni, a teacher at Brain Trust primary in Jinja district is on the spot for eloping with his former primary seven pupil.
Trouble for the teacher started when residents noticed Ayeni living with the 14-year-old girl in the staff quarters and tipped off the police.
The victim’s father, Swaibu Aboneka says that he reported a case of a missing person at Buweera police post, Buwenge sub-county when the school administrators informed him that his daughter had gone missing after completing her Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).
“My child did not return to us after successfully sitting her PLE in late March this year. Ayeni was part of the teachers who even paid me a courtesy call at home after all efforts to track down the girl failed. I am shocked to find out that he was the one staying with her,” he said.
He says that he also made several radio announcements with the hope of finding his missing daughter without success. Scovia Namuli, a resident of Buwera west village says that they thought Ayeni was a good Samaritan looking after a stranded child.
Read Also: Ugandan pastor arrested for trafficking minor girls for sexual exploitation
“His colleagues informed us that the girl got stranded at school after PLE and Ayeni was just a good Samaritan. None of us suspected him to be involved in mischievous behaviors,” she said. Pande Samanya, the area defence secretary says that Ayeni was restricting the girl’s movements but after continuous probing, she confessed to having become a wife of his former teacher.
“We were bothered by how Ayeni was living together with a young girl who wasn’t related to him. After probing further, we discovered that the two were living as husband and wife contrary to the law,” he said.
Ayeni who is detained at Buwenge central police station declined to comment on the matter. Kiira Region Police spokesperson James Mubi says that the victim is being examined by medical experts to ascertain the state of her health and mental wellbeing.
Mubi stresses that the suspect faces charges of aggravated defilement. He says that some evil-minded men are taking advantage of the lockdown to defile young girls.
