KASANGATI – Policemen in Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso District, on Thursday arrested a middle-aged man who has been parading himself as a catholic priest and extorting money from unsuspecting members of the catholic community.
The fake priest, identified as Mr. Anthony Sewanyana, 30, has been posing as a catholic priest from Rubaga Cathedral.
He was arrested at Kasangati Magistrate’s Court where he reportedly went to stand as surety for a suspect who had swindled money worth 131 million Uganda Shillings.
It is alleged the suspect had met the family of the complainant, convinced them of how he was a Reverend Father attached to the catholic church.
The unconvinced complainants decided to verify if he was a true church priest before he could stand as substantial surety in court. His luck ran out when the verification proved he wasn’t an enlisted priest under the catholic church and was later arrested.
It was however gathered that the fake priest was using the name Rev. Father Sewanyana Antony to extort money.
The Gayaza Parish Priest also confirmed the suspect had allegedly visited at the parish, defrauded parishioners by conning them out of money inform of donations.
It’s also believed he had on several occasions unlawfully officiated at church ceremonies. The recent incident was at a funeral service in Kasangati where he got stuck as he conducted the mass.
One of the complainants said at one point during the funeral mass, he got a phone call. He said, “Oh my God, this is from the Archdiocese, I have to take this”. He walked aside, spoke on the phone,came back saying it was the Archbishop calling from Rubaga and was sending his apologies to the bereaved family.
During interrogation, the suspect confessed to the police that he has been in the ugly act of ‘duping’ people for many years. He stated that he used the proceeds from the business to take care of his family.
The investigating officers are taking measures to ascertain how much money he has allegedly amassed.
The suspect is currently detained at Kasangati Police Station on charges of impersonation and obtaining money by false pretenses.