The story behind Vinnie's arrest

FRIDAY 31st SEPTEMBER

NEWSFLASH!!!

Upon returning to Mbale from our safari today, we learned that Vinnie spent a few hours in jail yesterday.

On Tuesday, Vinnie and a couple of the young men from Bethel were out driving in town. As they were parked, a young boy of about 10 came from the back of the car and scraped a rock against the car to scratch the paint off. After he threw the stone and put a small hole in the windscreen, he ran. Vinnie said to the two young men to go and catch the boy and bring him back.

When Vinnie spoke to the boy, the boy said he was very sorry for his actions. He said that it was an accident, some boys pushed him against the car and that is how he scratched it. He tried to convince Vinnie that he was throwing the rock at the boys who had pushed him and that is how the rock hit the windscreen.

Vinnie knew this was not true because he saw it all happen. He told the boy that his actions were very improper, but he forgave him. Then he sent the boy off home.

On Thursday, the police arrived to arrest Vinnie. They said that the boy’s father had made a complaint. (The boy’s father is a prominent Muslim in the area of the new church plant.) This is also the area where Vinnie and Grace are considering the purchase of land to build a new home.

The father took the matter to the police with concocted story, saying that Vinnie told the two young men to severely beat and capture the boy so that Vinnie could cut off his head and bury it in the ground of his new home. (This is a practice of some traditional worshipers. They believe that burying a child’s head will bring good fortune to the new building and the owners.)

Vinnie spent about 3 hours in jail before being bailed out. He is confident that the matter will be settled in court next week, given the number of independent witnesses who saw that the boy was released unharmed. Vinnie has become accustomed to such harassment involving false accusations to the police.