Eight out of the 12 people who were last week found chained inside Pastor Geoffrey Ssemwogerere’s church in Seguku have been handed over to Butabika National Referral Hospital.
The police raided Pr. Ssemwogerere’s Church at Seguku Cell V after a tipoff from the locals that people had been chained inside. Upon reaching the premises, police discovered 12 people chained and later established they were over 50 but many had earlier escaped.
But investigations established that some of the chained people had been there for six to 15 weeks. Four of the persons who were rescued from the chains proved that they were never sick but were forcefully dragged into the church after their money and document for their property like the land had been confiscated by the Pastor and his team.
However, the other eight whose relatives had not appeared to explain how they ended up being chained at Pr Ssemwogerere’s church consistently showed signs of mental illness and were taken to Butabika hospital.
“Some of the people were quickly picked up by their relatives and they looked very normal. But the eight others were not well and what they were saying or doing was not adding up. They really showed something wasn’t okay with them and we decided to hand them to Butabika hospital,” a detective said.
Efforts to speak to Butabika national referral hospital’s executive director, Dr. Juliet Nakku, were fruitless as she did not pick up nor return calls. At the time of filing this story, Dr. Nakku had also not responded to text messages.
Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson, confirmed that they had safely been transferred to Butabika National referral hospital for better care. Onyango explained that police took a decision to transfer them to the hospital because it was a risk keeping them at a station yet they were a bit violent.
Pr. Ssemwogerere was a day ago charged with unlawful confinement and remanded. He has since been released on five million shillings’ cash bail.
Wakiso District Resident Commissioner Justine Mbabazi, accompanied by police has since suspended all night activities at Pr Ssemwogerere’s church known as Glory Sinai.
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