Ugandan authorities have entered a plea bargain agreement with Carlos Alberto De Almeida Costa, a Portuguese national indicted for aggravated trafficking in children.
The International Crimes Division of the Uganda High Court approved the plea bargain on Wednesday, March 27. It was presented to the court by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
Justice Bashaija K. Andrew endorsed the agreement.
The court heard that Carlos came to Uganda in August 2019. He stayed in Ntinda, an outskirt of Kampala, with his girlfriend but they had differences and separated.
Authorities say that Carlos later relocated to Najjera where he rented an apartment.
“Between April and May 2020, Carlos met the victim’s mother who was selling tea by the roadside in Najjera with her two daughters, the victim and her sibling. He befriended her and started buying tea from them,” the ODPP says, adding, “Carlos became friends with the entire family of the victim who was 16 years old.”
The accused is said to have rented a house for the victim’s family and requested them to move in. The house had two bedrooms. The accused was occupying one room while the victim’s family occupied another room.
But while at the two-bedroomed house, Carlos would invite the victim to his room on several occasions and defile her several times.
“He then made an agreement with the victim’s parents wherein he agreed to marry her. During this time he continued to perform sexual acts with the child who later reported him to the police. Carlos was indicted with two counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Children under the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act,” court documents say.
On Wednesday, Carlos freely and voluntarily pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to be sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and to compensate the victim Ug. Shs. 30 million (KSh1 million).
Aggravating and mitigating factors of the case were taken into consideration in the plea bargain.
Some of these factors were; the gravity of the offences, the victim’s age, age difference between the victim and the accused, abuse of power and trust, plea of guilt, advanced age and illness (cancer) of the accused.
