By URN
The International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala has remanded Moses Kakooza also known as Aldo Mpanga to Luzira Prison on charges of defiling four pupils of Step by Step Primary School in Nansana, Wakiso District.
Kakooza was remanded on Wednesday by Justice Richard Wejuli Wabwire after reading for him 18 charges including aggravated trafficking, indecent assault, and aggravated defilement.
The Court heard that Kakooza between 2019 and 2020 at Step by Step Primary School in Wakiso District being a person in authority over the children aged 11 and 17 years performed sexual acts with the girls and unlawfully and indecently assaulted them.
The court has further heard that Kakooza did this by means of deception, force, or abuse of power or position of vulnerability for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The evidence before the Court shows that between 2019 and 2020, Kakooza was a teacher at Step by Step Primary School teaching Primary six and seven but also trained children to sing and dance and rented a house at the school.
He used to train selected children to dance and sing at his home or in the classrooms where he would buy for the children eats and alcohol that includes Eagle and Smirnoff Beer.
Records show that during the COVID-19 lockdown, he used to pick up the children from their homes for training. His troubles started when he dropped one of the victims at her parent’s home late and the mother demanded an explanation from the school bursar.
Records indicate that the mother of the victim was warned to keep her daughter away from the teacher because he allegedly molests children.
“In March 2021, the victim got sick and the mother suspected she was pregnant. Upon interrogation, she revealed that the accused used to train them and also took them to functions to perform “, reads the summary of the case.
It adds that “he also used to take them to Timeless Bar in Yesu Amala and buy for them Smirnoff or he took them for swimming”.
The Prosecution says the accused had made a partitioned cubicle in Primary five where he put a TV and video player. Furthermore, in the third term of 2019, the accused took one of the victims to the cubicle where he gave her water to drink and she lost consciousness.
Later, the victim woke up with pain in her vagina and suspected the accused to have been molested.
“That the accused had previously asked her for sex which she declined yet still that the accused took her to his house on several occasions and had sexual intercourse with her. That he had threatened to kill her if she ever disclosed”, reads the documents .
The matter was later reported to Florence Nakiwala, the then State Minister for Youth and Children Affairs, RDC Wakiso, and to Nansana Police. However, by then the accused had applied for and been given a teaching job at Nansana Muslim Primary School.
Evidence further shows that he was found living with one of the victims whom he had picked from her parents in 2018 saying he was assisting her in paying fees. According to the DPP, not only did Kakooza do this, but also changed the victim’s name so as to cover up his actions and dupe the people that she was her own child.
The children were examined and found to have ruptured hymens and Kakooza was found to be an adult of sound mental status.
During the hearing, the court will be asked to find him guilty as charged because he has no defense whatsoever, according to the records.
