Raphael Olinga is sentenced for defiling a 14-year-old girl while on peace-keeping duty in Somalia three years ago.

KAMPALA - A Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) soldier has been dismissed with disgrace from the army after being found guilty of defilement.

Raphael Olinga, who was sent on a peace-keeping mission in Somalia, received his sentence of dismissal from the chairperson of the army court Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti on Monday.

He was found guilty of defiling a 14-year-old girl in Somalia, his duty destination, three years ago.

While delivering his sentence, Gutti said the maximum sentence for Olinga should have been life imprisonment. But being a first offender, court decided to dismiss him.

'Cursed'

Last week, Col Moses Wandera, the UPDF director of prosecutions, said the victim's parents turned down summons by the court martial because in Somalia, such acts as defilement are branded as a curse.

"It would not have been a big problem [summoning of parents] if this was in Uganda, but the culture of the Somalis is different. If a girl has had sexual intercourse with someone who is not their husband, she is cursed.

"The parents rejected to testify because their daughter has already been cursed," Wandera said while officiating at the commissioning of 17 UPDF legal officers in Jinja.

He said the victim's parents asked for money to relocate their family or flee to another country to avoid embarrassment.

Meanwhile, also on Monday, another UPDF officer, Robert Wafula, was got a sentence of demotion from the rank of corporal to private for stealing $40,000 from his boss.

(Additional reporting by Jackie Nambogga)