A Latvian tourist has a horrific experience she had on her recent visit to Uganda, claiming that a pastor raped her.
The tourist identified as Anda, told a local Ugandan daily that a one Pastor Joseph Collins Twahirwa aka Daddy Collins who ministers with Epikaizo Ministries International, raped her.
“He said he wanted to have a baby. He pushed me onto the bed and raped me,” she told the Daily Monitor in an interview.
She added in the chilling revelations, “I heard Daddy Collins knocking and telling me to open the door. But I couldn’t open it because I was in the shower. He opened the door and he told me he wanted to keep “warm”. He pushed me to the bed.”
Anda who arrived in the country on December 11, says she was convinced by the pastor to make Uganda top on her bucket list through social media.
The two reportedly met online and managed to create rapport while Anda was still in Europe.
“Daddy Collins told me if I want to come to Africa, I should come to Uganda so that we pray. I agreed to come to Uganda,” Anda says.
She says an Airbnb in Makindye, a suburb in Kampala was her choice of accommodation. When she touched down at Entebbe International Airport, Mr. Twahirwa reportedly sent his employees to receive her. The Latvian—on her first visit to sub-Saharan Africa—says she was taken to a place she had no idea about.
“I thought he was taking me to my house,” Anda says of Mr Twahirwa’s minder, adding that “he took me to the house of Daddy Collins (Mr Twahirwa) without my [permission].”
At first, Anda says she was under the impression that she had been taken to her Airbnb apartment. However, she says red flags were raised when it dawned on her that she had been taken to a house bigger than the Airbnb apartment she had booked.
“They welcomed me in the house and they took my bag, saying: ‘This is where you will stay.’ But I ask, ‘why should I stay here yet I have my house’,” she says.
She adds that this is where they pastor preyed on her and after being sexually abused, the pastor’s aides drove her to her rented apartment in Makindye. She says she was dropped off with a warning not to tell anybody about the incident.
PASTOR COLLINS RESPONDS
When contacted to respond to the allegations, the pastor reportedly told the daily that he would not comment on the matter that is still under investigation.
His lawyer also declined to comment on the story.
Collins’ church is reportedly found in Bugolobi, an upscale suburb on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
The pastor did not respond to The Christian Bulletin messages asking him to comment on the allegations.
Anda also says that police have not been of help to her plight.
However, when The Christian Bulletin reached out to the police for a comment, the force’s spokesperson, Fred Enanga said an “active investigation” is underway.
“That concern was noted and it is under investigation at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. What you should know that it is an active investigation. There is a team of experts who were put up to investigate the matter,” Enanga said.
He added that the public will be notified of the progress of the case.
