Innocent Until Proven Guilty- Not!

If you read my last post, you know that we were robbed during the Super Bowl, which airs in the wee hours of the morning in this part of the world. As dawn broke and we assessed the damage (which thankfully wasn’t much!), I started to think about who could have robbed us. The week before, I had told our main night guard that he would not be working with us anymore. I immediately suspected that he could be the thief, especially because it seemed to me that the person who robbed us had a pretty good knowledge of our property. I went to the local police post and explained to them what had happened and who I thought could be behind it. They said that they wanted to pick up my former guard for questioning. Now in Uganda, very few police have cars or motorcycles. So I had to drive them over to the place where my former guard lives. Two officers armed with automatic rifles climbed into my 4WD and we were on our way. After some time, we finally found his house. He was sleeping when we arrived. One of the officers knocked on his door and told him to get dressed because he needed to answer to a charge against him. So he got dressed emerging in black pants and a black shirt (the same attire as our thief was wearing). We all piled back into my car and headed to the police station (talk about an awkward situation!). Once there the police took my statement and my former guard’s. Then I had a chance to talk with my former guard about the situation. He’s a very good liar (which is the main reason I fired him), but for some reason I believed him when he said that he had nothing to do with the robbery. He told me how scared he was and how he had never been arrested before. Then I made one of the most naïve statements I could have made. I told him that if he hadn’t done anything wrong that he didn’t have anything to worry about. He looked at me and explained that they would be taking him to jail until they had completed their investigation and that it could take days or even weeks. This was news to me. I really just wanted him questioned to see if he had anything to do with it. So I went back to the officers and asked them what would happen next. They told me exactly what my former guard had told me- that he would be held at the local jail until they could determine whether or not he had committed this crime. I told them that based on my conversation with my former guard, I no longer suspected him and that I did not want him arrested. They said that he had already been arrested and that they must take him to jail. I was shocked! The police hadn’t even been to the scene of the crime, and they were assuming his guilt simply based on my statement that he might have been the one to do it. Quite the opposite of innocent until proven guilty! I started praying because I really didn’t want to be responsible for sending an innocent man to jail. After more discussions with the police, they finally came up with a way that he could be released. I had to make a statement that I was forgiving this man for the crime he might have committed and that I wanted him to be released. I gladly made this statement which the police recorded in writing and I signed. My former guard was so relieved- he grabbed my hand and began thanking me over and over. I asked him to forgive me for having him arrested and for being so naïve. Then we went out of the police hut, and his brothers were waiting there. I explained to them all that had happened. They told me that they understood why I had suspected him and they expressed how grateful they were to me for allowing him to be released. We all shook hands and left reconciled as friends. I still don’t know who robbed our house, and I probably never will. It’s terrifying to me that it’s so easy to get someone arrested in this country. It makes me grateful for the American justice system and the rights that we have as citizens of such a great country.