A Ugandan Pastor Ssempa is Accused of Defilement of Minor

By Melanie Nathan, August 14, 2014.

A man by the name of Martin Ssempa has apparently been held by police in Iganga, Uganda, accused of allegedly “defiling” a 17 year old girl in Uganda.

The term defilement is used in Uganda to describe rape of a young under-age person.

There are two Martin Ssempa’s (urgh imagine that) and we hear that the accused is not the infamous pastor who is known for his Bible punching hate of gays. But this is a different Ssempa and now ‘Mr Eat Da Poo Poo’ Ssempa will get a taste, through name confusion, of what it feel like to be outed by Uganda’s Tabloid Red Pepper. A mechanism of persecution he has laughed at and condoned through social media bantering for years.

Sometimes Karma rushes in like a tidal wave….

The Red Pepper Report notes as follows:

Iganga police are holding a pastor accused of defiling a 17-year-old girl during a healing prayer session.

Pastor Martin Ssempa (who happens to share the same name with the famous Martin Ssempa of the the anti sodomy campaign) , of The Church of God Healing Centre located in Iganga on Tiptop Hall reportedly took advantage of his 17-year-old victim a student at Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Iganga district when she approached him to pray for her to during night prayers.

According to the minor whose identity has been withheld, the pastor took her inside his room where he repeatedly defiled her and asked not to reveal the matter to anybody.

She says Ssempa promised her school fees in order not to talk about the matter. A medical report shows that the minor was indeed defiled.

Betty Nankwanga, the mother of the defilement victim says that she was nearly tricked into having sex with the same pastor.

Nankwanga says Ssempa convinced her that she had been bewitched by her mother-in-law. Ssempa said Nankwanga’s mother-law wanted to break up her marriage. He then offered to pray for her.

She says she became suspicious when during the prayer session, Ssempa started touching her breasts and private parts.

Mathew Otuur, the Iganga police Investigations chief, says that they have subjected the pastor to a medical check up to establish his mental status before he can appear in court on charges of defilement.

This is not the first case of a pastor being accused of sexual harassment.

In April 2014, Pastor Martin Kahira, of Rwandan nationality reportedly defiled a 14-year old girl who had sought his help. The Sazinga Primary School pupil in Mitooma district had wanted Kahira to pray for her recovery from epilepsy.

In October 2012, the infamous anti-gay Martin Ssempa and five other individuals were convicted in Buganda Road Court of conspiring to tarnish a rival pastor’s reputation by falsely accusing him of engaging in homosexuality. The guilty verdict stemmed from a May 2009 incident in which Ssempa and the others engaged in a conspiracy to coerce a male church member at Robert Kayanja‘s Rubaga Miracle Center Cathedral to claim that he had sexual relations with Kayanja. The six individuals, including Ssempa, were sentenced to a fine of one million shillings each (about US$390) and one hundred hours of community service