Pastor Arrested Over Sexual Assault, Land Grabbing
Alex Bujingo (R) at the police station
A pastor has been arrested together with his followers for allegedly beating up an old woman who refused to hand over the land she reportedly donated to the church.
Alex Bujingo the lead pastor at Miracle Center, Bulenga is accused of assaulting a 60-year-old woman identified as Angella Baziba leaving her hospitalized after she failed to sign the papers officially handing over the land to the church.
It is said that Bujingo coerced the old woman into giving her the land on agreement that he would leave after one year, something that he has failed to do four years later.
However, in his defense, Bujingo claims that Bazibe joined his church and gave the land for free as a gift to construct and expand the place of worship.
“I did not rent neither am I on a lease. She chose to give the land to the church and I have a witness in church who also works as a lawyer to attest to this. When I met God through me while handing over the land,” he said.
Bujingo further explained that Baziba later changed her mind after the church construction was completed and started asking to share part of the offerings that came from the church.
“After the construction, she came to my office and told me to give her part of the money collected as offerings from the worshippers. This is absurd because I never started this church to make money,” he explained.
Upon his arrest, the pastor denied the allegations of beating up Baziba claiming she was suffering from strange illnesses that saw her in and out of hospital. Bujingo also swore that he would never leave the land and would fight till the end against any person who tried to cross his path in this matter.
“I constructed my church without anyone contributing a cent. I work for my own money and if she wants me to leave, my lawyers told her to pay my money that I used for constructing the structures,’ he said.
Baziba’s daughter rubbished Bujingo’s claims stating that the two fell out because the pastor was engaging in sexual relations with the youths of the church. This was also pointed out by a man who claimed his wife was sexually abused when she visited the church for prayers.
“My woman went there to pray so as to have twins but he ended up touching her intimately. We ask the government to look into pastors because this man has produced children all over the village,” he said.
Residents surrounding the church also accused the pastor of always intimidating them with armed policemen and the army.
“He has been threatening to harm us regardless of whether we are leaders. I fight for the truth and I will stick by it but he is not making it easy,” Sarah Kalule, chairperson of Bulenga B Zone revealed.
Baziba is currently admitted at BMC medical center and according to Dr. Emanuel Mungereza, she needed a psychotherapist to help counsel her out of the depression that she is currently going through.
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