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| Jolly Tumuhiirwe |
A Ugandan maid was jailed
for four years Monday for abusing a toddler in a case that shocked the country
after a graphic video of the assault was made public.
The 22-year-old maid, Jolly
Tumuhiirwe, originally pleaded guilty last week to torture, but later the
charge was reduced to abuse, to which she also pleaded guilty on Friday.
Chief Magistrate Lillian
Buchan told Tumuhiirwe she had committed an “unjustifiable and inexcusable”
crime.
She gave her a four-year
sentence due to the “ruthlessness exhibited” on an “innocent, helpless child”.
Worried parents, who
installed a hidden camera to film the situation when they were at work, were
shocked to see the footage showing the maid throwing their 18-month-old
daughter to the floor.
Tumuhiirwe is seen trying to
force feed the child, before slapping her hard. After the girl vomits, the maid
throws her facedown on to a hard floor, then hits her with a torch on the
bottom.
She then kicks the child’s
face and stomach before putting her entire weight on the girl’s back, and then
drags her out of the room, apparently unconscious.
Uganda maid savaging an
18month old baby
Uganda maid savaging an
18month old baby
The video has been seen or
shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media.
Tumuhiirwe on Monday
remained apparently emotionless as her sentence was handed down in a court in
Kampala.
– ‘Long-term psychological
consequences’ –
Ugandan newspapers called
the footage “spine-chilling” and “very disturbing”.
Baby Kamanzi and her parents
Baby Kamanzi and her parents
The child was left bruised
and shaken. The court was packed with family members of the toddler, as well as
journalists.
The child’s mother, Angela
Mbabazi, broke down outside the court after sentencing, putting her hands over
her face.
Her husband, Eric Kamanzi,
32, told reporters the couple had shared the video with other parents “so they
can take a lesson from it”.
The case has gathered wide
attention in Uganda, where many middle class parents hire maids to look after
their children. Maids in Uganda are often poorly paid, and regularly live in
the houses where they work.
“It’s not for us to decide
the punishment for what she committed,” Kamanzi said. “We hope this has set an
example for other maids out there, that you can’t just go to someone’s house
and torture their baby and expect to walk out.”
Family member Rose Zimulinda
said that the child, Arnella, was physically well, but that they would have to
address her “long-term psychological consequences as they come”.
She said she welcomed the
sentence.
“We hope that these four
years will help her to reform and come back and be a useful person to society,
because she’s still young, and be a mother,” Zimulinda said.
The UN children’s agency
chief in Uganda has condemned the abuse.
“The video of this baby
being beaten is shocking,” UNICEF head Aida Girma said. “Any such act of abuse
and violence against children is completely unacceptable
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