Bernhard Glaser, a German-born Belgian national who has been facing charges of aggravated child trafficking has died in Luzira prison.
According to his lawyer Evans Ochieng, Glaser died Thursday morning, a day after he was granted a Shs 30 million cash bail High court judge, Moses Kazibwe to enable him to travel to Belgium for cancer treatment.
However, he was sent back to prison after failing to raise the money. Glaser was the director of Ssese Humanitarian Services, a community-based organisation located at Mwena landing site in Kalangala district. The humanitarian initiative was allegedly set up to provide rehabilitation services to infected, affected, abused and violated girls in Kalangala district. The centre known among locals as Bery’s place also provided psychosocial care to victims of sexual-related offences.
At the place, which was formerly known as Budding Flowers, Glaser hosted only female children who received training in reflexology and sexual reproductive health. But later, he was accused of sexually harassing the less privileged children under his care, leading to his arrest and subsequent trial. He faced eight charges of aggravated defilement and 19 counts of aggravated child trafficking.
Glazer was first arrested in November 2013 and charged after two children under his care accused him of sexual abuse. The minors aged between 12 and 14, said that Glaser had repeatedly defiled them since 2007. He stayed in detention for more than two months.
During the operation in which he was arrested, police recovered a dildo and lubricants that he allegedly applied to the victims before defiling them. The detectives found that all girls at the facility had implants, one of the ways used by ladies in family planning. Subsequently, 21 suspected victims were relocated to Kampala for safe custody, but 19 of the children returned to Kalangala days later.
But the charges against him were dismissed in 2015 by justice John Eudes Keitirima due to lack of evidence. However, he was re-arrested in February 2019 for a fresh trial, which dragged on till the time of his death.
The organisation’s website describes Bery as a dreamer with a big heart. “He has a pragmatic, can-do attitude is committed and creates facts. Bery is able to achieve where others fail.”
He was married to Ingrid Dilen, with whom they were running the home, and served as the treasurer and administrator. The website adds that Ingrid and Berry not only considered the girls as under their responsibility but took them in as their children.
