Medical experts in Hoima District have said men in the area have found new ways of eluding defilement charges.

A police surgeon at Hoima Police Health Centre lll, who preferred anonymity in order to speak freely, said their investigations show swellings on victims’ private parts but no penetration.

“Lately, we are having scenarios of men sleeping with children but without penetrating them. They find ways of achieving sexual satisfaction,” the police surgeon said last week.

In August, a man in his 40s whose identity is withheld allegedly defiled five girls from the same neighbourhood. The girls were aged between five and eight. Part of the surgeon doctor’s report indicated that two of the girls’ sexual organs had some swellings, with the remaining three girls registering no injury in their genitals.

To that effect, the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in Hoima declined to sanction defilement charges against the suspect on grounds that the evidence was not sufficient enough to prosecute him.

Statistics obtained from Hoima Police Centre lll indicate that so far eight cases of sexual abuse that involve non-penetration have been reported.

The police director of health services, Dr Moses Byaruhanga, said from his experience as a police surgeon, majority investigators believe that for a defilement charge to stand, there must be penetration, leading to the rapture of the hymen. This narrative, according to Dr Byaruhanga, is wrong.

Dr Byaruhanga explains that in circumstances when there are no visible injuries, the investigators should look for other crucial pieces of evidence such as semen, hair and blood. The spokesperson of the office of Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Jacquelyn Okui, said they normally consider Section 129 of the Penal Code Act when pursuing such case files.

“The above law defines a sexual act as the unlawful use of any object or organ by a person on another person’s sexual organ, implying that there need not to be penetration of the victim’s sexual organ for an act to amount to a sexual act,” Ms Okui said yesterday.

She added: However, a case is determined based on facts and evidence. There must be evidence to prove the contact. The victim’s testimony, eyewitness testimony, medical and forensic evidence are considered. A case file will be sanctioned when there is credible evidence to prove the contact .”