A Catholic priest attached to Aripea Catholic Parish, in Ayivu Sub-County, Arua district is under police custody in Arua central police station for allegedly defiling and impregnating a 16 year old girl.
According to Police, Fr. Modesto Etrima, 43, who serves under Arua Diocese, was picked on Sunday after residents threatened to lynch him during a church service.
Dan Byaruhanga, the Arua district police commander, says he received information on Saturday night from Ayivu police post that residents of the area had turned rowdy threatening to kill a priest whom they accused of defiling and impregnating their daughter.
He says this prompted him to arrest the priest in order to save his life.
Byaruhanga says he picked the priest and the victim plus some of the girl’s relatives to help police in investigations.
According to Byaruhanga, the girl who is a senior three student confessed that she was defiled by the priest several times under the pretext of supporting her in school.
Byaruhanga explains that medical examinations carried out showed that the girl is five months pregnant.
The DPC noted that according to the victim, on several occasions when the priest asked her to dress his bed, he ended up having sex with her.
Byaruhanga says the girl revealed to the parents that she was impregnated by Fr. Etrima, sparking anger from the residents who stormed Aripea parish headquarters where the priest resides threatening to kill him.
The victim told police that she started staying with Fr. Etrima when she was still in primary six and that the priest started defiling her when she was in senior two.
But Fr. Etrima, who recorded a statement at the police, denies the allegations saying this was meant to tarnish his image. According to him he has been helping to pay the girl’s school fees but her parents just changed their mind and decided to accuse him of defiling her.
