Kamogelo Olaitan
A former American pastor who was a missionary in Uganda has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a Ugandan girl in the care of his church.
Eric Tuininga, 45, from Georgia, pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse charge in February before he was sentenced last week, reports the Associated Press.
Tuininga was also ordered to pay $20,000 (about R343 000) in restitution and, after getting out of prison, to spend the rest of his life on supervised release as a registered sex offender.
The former pastor was investigated in June 2019 after an American citizen in Uganda called prosecutors in the US to tell them about Tuininga having sexual relationships with girls as young as 14.
The girls were in the care of the US-based Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Uganda, where Tuininga was one of the church’s ministers.
The Telegraph of Macon reported that the recommended sentence was seven years but the court sentenced him to 10 years after hearing testimony from the victim’s caretaker and some of Tuininga’s family members.
“Eric Tuininga used his trusted position as a pastor to sexually assault a young Ugandan girl in his care. This was a challenging case, but law enforcement worked diligently to ensure that Tuininga did not escape justice for his crime overseas,” said US Attorney Peter D Leary in a statement.
The statement continued: “The US Attorney’s Office, along with our national and international law enforcement partners, will do everything in their power to catch child predators and hold them accountable for their crimes.”
General secretary of the church’s committee of foreign missions, Mark Bube, said Tuininga’s misconduct was reported by other missionaries in Uganda and he was removed from missionary work in 2019 and forced to return to America.
