Police in Kitgum are holding a 30-year-old man for allegedly defiling and killing his two year old daughter.
Samuel Opoka a farmer reportedly sexually assaulted the minor before killing her. The incident happened at Lapana B village in Paibony Parish in Kitgum Matidi Sub County.
Kevin Abalo 27, the deceased’s mother says she had left the minor and her five-year-old brother at home while she went to harvest vegetables in their nearby garden.
Abalo says on returning from the garden, her daughter was missing adding that when she questioned her son, he told her their dad had killed her.
She says her son disclosed that the suspect undressed the victim and repeatedly kicked and slammed her against their grass-thatched hut wall to death.
According to her, the victim’s body was discovered about half a kilometre from home, naked with ruptured private parts.
The Kitgum District Police commander Moses Bwire says police visited the crime scene yesterday and recorded statements from eyewitnesses.
At least 51,168 girls were defiled between 2014 and 2017 according to statistics from police’s child and family protection unit (CFPU).
The breakdown shows that 6,960 cases were recorded in 2014, 5581 in 2015 and 5,707 in 2016. The statistics also show that the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) registered 14,985 and 17,935 defilement cases in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
Although the CFPU report doesn’t show the areas with the highest and lowest defilement cases, a report released by CID in 2018 lists Lira, Mbale, Gulu, Kibuku, Serere, Kamuli, Mubende, Buyende, Mayuge, Arua and Dokolo as the areas with the highest number of defilement cases.
Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, says most girls fall victim to sexual abuse during holidays at the hands of the people they live with in homes, communities and their relatives.
Police have since highlighted indicative signs of sexual abuse and urged parents to be conversant with them so that they can help their children before it is too late.
