Family Rescued From Detention - Justice Centres Uganda
Pictured are Rachel (pseudonym) and her family posing with the JCU paralegal officer after their release from Kiryandongo Central Police Station (CPS). 

Family Rescued From Detention

Pictured are Rachel (pseudonym) and her family posing with the JCU paralegal officer after their release from Kiryandongo Central Police Station (CPS).  Theirs was a case referred to our Hoima Centre by the Kiryandongo Probation and Social Welfare Officer. This family had been detained for four days at Kiryandongo CPS and was in desperate need of legal assistance and this is when our Hoima Centre deployed its paralegal officer – Mutagonga Leslie to go to their rescue.
Upon interviewing the family, it was discovered that the family had been charged with criminal trespass after cultivating their late mother’s land. It all started in 2014 when Rachel’s mother, Betty, mortgaged the 2.5 acres of land to Atwine (pseudonym) and obtained a loan of two million shillings that was to be paid back with 10% interest. Unfortunately Betty passed away in 2017 before paying the loan which caused Atwine to seize the land. Atwine started cultivating the land. Betty’s children came back earlier this year to cultivate the land assuming Atwine’s long usage had in a way paid off their mother’s debt, but unfortunately they were charged with criminal trespass and detained at the police station.
JCU’s Mutagonga contacted Atwine and scheduled a mediation between her and Betty’s children at the District Headquarters. The mediation was indeed a success where Atwine forgave them of the 10% interest as well as dropping the charges and Betty’s children agreed to pay back the two million debt in instalments starting with Ugx. 500,000 deposit the next week. The children also received a piece of land from their uncle which they would cultivate and use the proceeds to cover the rest of the debt in order to fully recover the land from Atwine.
The family was all smiles and grateful to JCU for the free legal services accorded to them that enabled them to be released from detention and helped them come up with an amicable way to recover their mother’s land.
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