Africa-Press – Uganda. A policeman who came in the limelight for tormenting opposition strongman Dr Kizza Besigye has been bailed, pending the hearing of case in which he is accused of aggravated trafficking.
Detective superintendent of police Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana was granted a cash bail of Shs2million on Friday.
Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi also bonded his sureties for Shs10 million non-cash.
“The applicant is a serving police officer. He presented his biological mother Olive Bwana and his brother- plus other people- as his sureties whom I find substantial and can bring him back to court,” Kayizzi ruled before adjourning the case to September 7 for mention.
He added: “I am convinced that the applicant will return to court but should also deposit his passport with court.”
Arinaitwe, who is attached to the Crime Intelligence Directorate, was charged with aggravated trafficking in persons before Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court.
On Thursday, police spokesperson Fred Enanga said “Arinatiwe brought the 23-year-old female victim from Ntungamo District to work as a maid, allegedly coerced her into repeated acts of sex at his home in Wakiso District.
The victim claims she was first raped at gunpoint in a Kampala house owned by Arinaitwe on the night of July 25, followed by threats not to report the matter.
Consequently, prosecution alleges that “on June 23, 2023, Arinaitwe and others still at large, while at Nalumunye Bandwe, Kyengera Town Council in Wakiso District, recruited or maintained or confined or transported or transferred or harboured or received or facilitated aforementioned acts on (name of victim withheld) by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion or deception or abuse of power or position of vulnerability for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labour or involuntary servitude or debt bondage.”
Arinaitwe has since denied the charges slapped against him with his lawyer James Njogu, applying for his bail on several grounds.
Meanwhile, Enanga said “more charges [against Arinaitwe] are pending retrieval of DNA results.”
The victim is currently under the care of a non-disclosed non-governmental organization (NGO) for protection as investigations continue.
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