The Ugandan Police have disrupted a wedding ceremony between a 14-year-old girl and a 22-year-old man.
Daily Monitor reports that the girl who's a secondary school dropout, is currently four months pregnant. Her parents, Abdu Kalimu Ngobi and Faridah Kagoya were said to have agreed to marry off their daughter to the man, Talyaka Swaliki after collecting Shs 200, 000 and a goat as bride price.
The supposed young bride
The police however arrived after the traditional wedding ceremony was over and the groom was about taking his 'new bride' home. All the guest scampered for safety to avoid being arrested, including relatives.
Surprisingly, the bride denied she was 15 years of age and she claimed to be 18-year-old. She said: “I am not young and I don’t know why police disrupted our function. I love my husband and. I asked my parents’ permission to get married.”
The father of the bride (L) and the groom (R)
The girl’s parents also insisted that the daughter was 18 years and had accepted to marry her off at her own request. “She dropped out of school and told us that she wanted to get married to the man who was responsible for her pregnancy and as a Muslim, I had no objection,” her father, Mr Ngobi said.
The groom also said he had been in relationship with the supposed underage girl for two years.
“Her parents asked for a bride price of Shs 200,000, a goat and two gomesi which I paid. They didn’t tell me that she was young,” said the groom.
Although a group of residents later stormed the Police station demanding for the suspects to be released, the police have confirmed that the parents are to be charged with marrying off an underage girl while the groom is to be charged with defilement.
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