Police in Katakwi Central Police Station are hunting for a teacher of Apuuton Primary School for allegedly defiling and impregnating his primary- five pupil.
The suspect, Romanos Okello is reported to have taken off on Thursday when he saw the parents of the girl visiting the school.
The girl, whose identity has been concealed because she is a minor was discovered pregnant last Saturday. It’s reported that the school, after realizing that the child was sickly, took her for treatment at Katakwi General Hospital but she was found pregnant.
Sam Emukoki, the father of the pupil who reported the case of defilement to the Police on Thursday says that he learnt of his daughter’s pregnancy from the head teacher who called him over the matter.
Emukoki said that the school had taken the girl for a medical check-up where her pregnancy status was discovered.
“What surprised me about this matter is that the head teacher was asking for a negotiation, but how can I negotiate for money at the expense of my child’s life and future?”, he fumed.
According to Emukoki, his daughter has been in the boarding section where no other people have access apart from the teachers and fellow pupils.
But Moses Ekunyu, the head teacher of the school in his social media post on one of the Katakwi platforms says that the girl had named a different person for the pregnancy.
“The girl stated two different people and also, the girl has two different sets of parents. When we called one parent, the girl mentioned her boyfriend, and was clearly recorded. But when another parent again came who claimed to be the real parent to the girl, she turned to the teacher,” Ekunyu’s statement reads in part.
Ekunyu added in the post that they are still engaging the girl for more details on the matter with the police.
The Katakwi District Police Commander, Christopher Ruhunde says that the police are on the ground hunting for the whereabouts of the teacher for his statement and medical check- up.
However, the 15-year-old girl insists that it is the teacher who made her pregnant. She told our reporter that the teacher threatened to beat her if she mentioned him as the father of the pregnancy.
She explained in detail to our reporter the process the teacher craftily used to push her into sexual submission, saying that he used to call her to his house under the guise of helping mark the books, and then defile her.
The Katakwi probation office reports that 16,000 girls have been impregnated in the district since 2019. The report indicated that most girls were affected during the Covid-19 lockdown.
When contacted, Geoffrey Omolo, the Katakwi District Chairperson said that they are tracking records of the said girls to bring to book the persons responsible.