Buganda Road Magistrates Court in Kampala fined a woman Uganda Shillings 200,000 after pleading guilty to lying about her age.
Jacqueline Kaitesi, 40, a resident of Namugongo was on Wednesday arraigned in court and charged with alteration of her age while applying for a passport at the Ministry of Internal Affairs when she told officers at the passport office that she was 31 years.
It is alleged that in 2017, Kaitesi told immigration officers at the airport that she was 31 years as it was indicated on her passport. However, her appearance did not match her age, forcing the immigration officer to ask for her national identity card.
The immigration officer then asked for Kaitesi’s National ID which revealed her true age as 40 having been born in 1980 and not 1989 as indicated in her passport.
She was then arrested by immigration police and handed over to Internal Affairs which took her to court and charged with unlawful alteration of a passport contrary to section 48[3] of the Uganda citizenship and immigration control act.
Kaitesi pleaded guilty to the offence and asked for leniency since she is a first offender a mother of two children who are currently living with their grandparents.
Magistrate Kamasanyu said that although she had pleaded guilty and not wasted court’s time and also remorseful but since the offence she committed is on the rise, a fine of sh200, 000 is appropriate for her to act as a lesson never to repeat it.