17th December, 2013
Former Uganda national team coach Chris Mubiru has been arrested in Kampala for allegedly having anal sex with a young player and he is expected to be put before trial for sodomy.
Mubiru, the former head coach of the country’s soccer team called the Cranes, is being held in a police station awaiting trial over charges of gay sex.
He was arrested on Monday and interrogated for more than four hours before he was detained at Katwe Police Station in Kampala for allegedly sodomizing one of his team players last year.
The coach, who managed local giants Sports Club Villa before being appointed as the national team coach, was nabbed after photographs appeared in a local tabloid allegedly having anal sexual intercourse with male youths.
The tabloid Red Pepper last year published pictures of Mubiru along with the caption ‘Smoked out! Uganda Cranes boss nabbed sodomising players – Shocking pictures inside.’
Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and punishable by the death penalty.
Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said police are holding Mubiru on the sex incidents that appeared in the media and in videos obtained by the detectives.
“What we need now is to record statements of those who claim that he sexually abused them. Whoever has such a complaint should go to Katwe Police Station and help police prosecute the suspect,” Ms Nabakooba said yesterday.
Police detectives told the Daily Monitor that Mr. Mubiru denied to be the person in the videos and the media having sex with the youths.
Police opened a general enquiry file (GEF) early this year but they failed to arrest Mr. Mubiru because he was reportedly out of the country.
Ms Nabakooba said they are also looking at defilement offences under Section 1 (29) of the Penal Code Act that makes it a crime if any person attempts to perform a sexual act with another person who is below the age of 18 years.
The crime, under Section 1 (29) of the Penal Code Act, is punishable by 18 years in prison on conviction.
Police are yet to establish the age of the suspected victims in the video.