Police in the Eastern border district of Busia have arrested a Catholic priest on allegations of defiling a 17-year-old primary school leaver.

Police picked up the priest from Dabani Parish headquarters, where he is attached, and briefly detained him at Dabani Police Station, before transferring him to Busia Central Police Station.

Detectives at Dabani Police Station, who are privy to the investigation, say they have carried out tests on the girl and established she was defiled, while tests on the prelate indicate that he had sexual intercourse.

 “We are analysing the suspect’s HIV status, although a Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (pregnancy) test on the girl returned negative results,” the police source said on Sunday. 

At Busia Central Police Station where the suspect was transferred, an anonymous detective described his state as being “alcoholic and shivering”. 

Mr Tibbs Asiimwe, the Busia District Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) Officer, confirmed the priest’s arrest on allegations of defilement, but added that he had been released on medical grounds after his health deteriorated while in their custody.

“It was difficult to keep him in police cells until today (Monday). We feared (that) he would cause us “problems” and gave him bond so that he can access treatment, come back this week and we take him to court,” Mr Asiimwe further explained.

The Catholic Church doctrine demands that Priests are supposed to practice celibacy and not to engage in acts of sexual intercourse.

A member of the victim’s family told this publication that the suspect was arrested after he reportedly returned her home after she went missing for four days. 
The victim is said to have sat for her Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) at one of the schools in the district. 

According to the source, the priest was “drunk” when he returned with the victim and that when her parents asked him where their daughter had been, he reportedly “harassed” them before riding away. “The priest brought the victim back home on a motorcycle, and when we tried asking him where the girl had been, he started quarrelling,” the source said. 

The source added: “Our daughter went missing for four days and when she finally appeared with the Priest, we were suspicious.”

Following a hunch that the priest had been keeping the girl at his house at the parish, the family filed a formal complaint at Dabani Police Station, which triggered the domino effect leading to his arrest.