Torture maid released from prison

Kampala. In 2014, Ugandans were shocked by a widely publicised footage from a video surveillance camera.

The footage that went viral showed Ms Jolly Tumuhiirwe, a house help, torturing Arnella Kamanzi, a toddler who was one-and-half-years at the time.

Part of the distressing video, which was shared on several social media platforms, showed the then 22-year-old maid grabbing and throwing baby Kamanzi forcefully onto the floor, beating her buttocks with a torch before stepping on her back and kicking her.

Ms Tumuhiirwe, who was subsequently sentenced to four years in jail, was released last Friday after serving about two years and eight months.

According to Mr Frank Baine, the Uganda prisons spokesperson, she was freed before her due date because her four-year sentence attracted a remission, a reduced verdict considered for disciplined and hardworking inmates.

“If she had misbehaved while in jail, she would have served her entire sentence [up to December 2018],” Mr Baine said.

He added that Ms Tumuhiirwe had earlier expressed disinterest to do media interviews upon her release.

“Do you think that the public is that forgiving? Just imagine a scenario where she talks to the press and her pictures are splashed everywhere. She would be finished. For this reason, Jolly mentioned that she wanted to avoid the spotlight,” Mr Baine said.

Ms Tumuhiirwe left the women’s section at Luzira prison during the early morning hours of last Friday, driven off in a tinted car.

Human rights lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, who represented her in the case, recently wrote an article in the Daily Monitor and said she was remorseful.

“She said sorry for what she did to the baby. She asked me to ask her former boss to forgive her. She told me she learnt a lot through her punishment in jail and that she will always treat children with love.

“I asked her: ‘why don’t you ask for forgiveness from your former bosses?’ …she said she wishes to disappear into oblivion to her village where her mother lives,” he wrote.

When Daily Monitor contacted Ms Angella Mbabazi, Arnella’s mother, she confirmed being aware of Ms Tumuhiirwe’s release from prison but declined to comment further. She only said her daughter is fine.

Mr Eric Kamanzi, Arnella’s father, said the torture incident was a painful chapter in their lives and prefers not to dwell on it any longer.

Timeline of events

November 13, 2014: Mr Eric Kamanzi reported the incident to Kiwatule police post where he handed in the video. Ms Tumuhiirwe was immediately arrested. After investigations, she was charged with torture at Nakawa Magistrate’s Court and remanded to Luzira prison.

December 8, 2014: The house help pleads guilty.

December 15, 2014: She is handed a four-year jail term by Buganda Road chief magistrate.

August 25, 2017: Ms Tumuhiirwe is released from prison.