Teacher, Students Attack Ugandan Adventist School Over Sports Game
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- After losing a football/soccer match, two students led by a teacher from a rival school allegedly attacked Ruhanga Adventist Secondary School with machetes and sticks.
- 9 people were seriously injured during the attack, a school laboratory was destroyed, and the school truck was damaged.
- Riots and inter-school invasions following football/soccer competitions are not new to the area; however, this case marks the first time suspects have been arrested and taken into custody.
17 May 2022 | Two students and a teacher from a rival school were taken into custody on May 14, 2022, for allegedly assaulting students and destroying property at Ruhanga Adventist Secondary School in Uganda after a football (soccer) match, reported news site The Monitor.
The incident occurred after a March 21, 2022, match where Hill Side Academy Itojo lost to Ruhanga Adventist Secondary School. Afterward, Hill Side Academy’s Games Master Ariho Mudasiru, 43, allegedly led two students Aryaheebwa Kato, 18, and Orishaba Kakuru, 18, in vandalizing Ruhanga Adventist Secondary School with machetes and sticks, smashing glass windows, cutting down the banana plantations, and destroying the laboratory and school truck, as well as damaging the school fence.
Each of the three faces nine counts of grievous harm after nine people were seriously injured during the attack. The Hill Side Academy teacher and students were also charged with four cases of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, grievous harm, criminal trespass, and malicious damage offenses. They also face charges of assault on students who were injured but not hospitalized.
The three were arrested on May 11, 2022, and their petition for bail denied on May 13, 2022. “Inquiries are still on and if released at this stage, [the suspects] will likely interfere with investigations and thus cause injustice. For the safety of the applicant, the accused persons, and the country, the application for bail is not granted,” ruled Magistrate Edgar Kakuru.
Riots and inter-school invasions following football/soccer competitions are not new to the area; however, this case marks the first time suspects have been arrested and taken into custody, according to the Monitor.
Recently, more than 200 students of Kigezi College Butobere were sent home after authorities discovered a plot to retaliate against Kigezi High School for assaults on their schoolmates, the Monitor also reported.
The news site said that students of Butobere and Kigezi High School have been involved in brawls that escalatee into violence during games and sports competitions for many years. In April 2010, Brian Tumwine, a student at Kigezi College Butobere, was beaten to death in a fight with Kigezi High School students after a football/soccer competition.
(Photo: Two students and a teacher from a rival school were taken into custody on May 14, 2022, for allegedly assaulting students and destroying property at Ruhanga Adventist Secondary School in Uganda after a football (soccer) match. Photo by Phillip Kofler from Pixabay.)