Simon Ibalala, the police officer suspected of raping a secondary school girl from a police cell in Mbale is walking free.
Ibalala allegedly raped a sixteen year-old student of Musese Secondary School. The girl had been taken to Busiu Police Station by the parents in an attempt to force her to reveal where she had spent a night.
The girl in her statement to police claims that the police officer came and picked her from the female cell and took her to a nearby house where he allegedly forced her to have sex with him.
She alleges in her written statement that the police officer told her after forcing her into sex that she had no case to answer and ordered her to go back home.
Though the parents reported the case to Mbale Central Police Station, no action has been taken against the accused officer.
Diana Nandaula, the Eastern Uganda Police Spokesperson says the police officer only recorded a statement and was set free pending conclusion of investigations into the case.
She says the police will not charge the implicated officer with rape even if the investigations are concluded. She says the only charge the officer faces is that of defilement.
Nandaula says the police is first interested in re-arresting Fred Mabonga the 48-year-old radio presenter who the girl claims first defiled her.
Nandaula notes that the priority for now is on arresting the journalist who is reportedly on the run after escaping from Busiu police post.
The 48-year-old journalist allegedly defiled the 16-year-old girl several times from Eldima Hotel, which is just 20 meters away from Mbale Central Police Station.
The parents of the girl, in an attempt to secure justice for their daughter, have now petitioned the eastern regional police headquarters to intervene and bring the implicated police officer to face justice.
