What you need to know:
- Cases of child abuse are common and on the increase in Uganda, according to studies done by child rights activists and police
Police in Kyegegwa District are holding a 33-year-old man on murder charges after he allegedly beat his 7-year-old daughter to death.
Rwenzori west police spokesperson, Mr Vincent Twesige, said Bridget Kemigisa, a resident of Igunda B village, Kakabara town council was fatally beaten by her father after he returned home drunk on Thursday afternoon and found her sleeping in his bed.
“The suspect has been taking alcohol. On Thursday when he returned home from a bar, he found Bridget and her other two siblings sleeping in his bed and started beating them until she died. Her other siblings survived with injuries,” Mr Twesige said.
When the suspect realised that his daughter had died, he reportedly told neighbours that she had been sick for days and that she died of natural causes.
But upon examining the body, the neighbours discovered the girl had sustained several injuries.
Kemigisa’s siblings also revealed to the neighbours that they had been beaten by their father before their sister died. Residents contacted police detectives who arrested him upon interviewing Kemigisa’s siblings.
The suspect is said to have been staying with the children alone after he reportedly separated with their mother several months ago.
Cases of child abuse are common and on the increase in Uganda, according to studies done by child rights activists and police.
The Uganda violence against children survey report released in 2018 indicated at the time that three in four children in Uganda have experienced some form of violence. Among the three primary forms of violence surveyed were sexual, physical and emotional. One in three children have experienced at least two of these, the researchers said.
In November 2021, the Inspector General of Police Martin Okoth-Ochola condemned what he described as the increasing acts of aggravated child abuse and torture.
This was after several videos, showing children being battered and mistreated by parents, guardians and care takers were widely shared on social media.
“Our Children and Family Protection Unit, has continued to register cases where parents and guardians administer punishments in form of physical beatings, deprivation of sleep, fed on minimal amounts of food or even starved etc. As a result this worsens the relationship between the child victim and the parent, guardian or caretaker,” police spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga said at the time. By Alex Ashaba, Daily Momitor
