South Africa news outlets report that Uganda Cranes Head coach, Milutin Sredojevic alias ‘Micho’ has been found guilty of two counts of sexual assault. Sredojevic was charged on Tuesday in the Gqeberha Regional Court, South Africa.
Upon judgement, Micho was reportedly sentenced to three years imprisonment, and suspended for five years over the incident that happened in December 2020. His legal team was however granted leave to appeal the conviction.
A statement from FUFA, the local football governing body in Uganda said that Micho had asked for permission to attend to a ‘private’ matter in South Africa.
“The Uganda Cranes coach Milutin Sredojevic asked FUFA for permission to attend to a private matter in South Africa. We have this afternoon received information that the private matter has been concluded for now. The coach will come back to resume his duties accordingly,” the statement reads.
According to recent reports by HeraldLIVE media in South Africa, Micho allegedly committed the crime during the 2021 U21 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, when he was still in charge of Zambia’s men’s national football team. The news outlet further indicate that he was accused by a 39-year-old woman to have “touched her buttocks and making inappropriate sexual remarks” at her.
Reports further suggested that during the alleged incident, the lady had delivered coffee to Micho while he was watching a football match in the stands, and asked if he (Micho) would like sugar. Micho, according to the reports, responded by saying he wanted another type of sugar and went ahead to point at the woman’s private parts before going ahead to touch them.
The said woman had reportedly made a complaint to her boss on the first incident of assault, who in turn reprimanded Micho and warned him not to repeat the act. However, Micho allegedly later on the same day of the first incident, again touched the same woman inappropriately, leading to a case of sexual assault being opened against him later; he had been in and out of court, before being found guilty on Tuesday.
