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Uganda coach Sredojevic convicted of sexual assault in S. Africa

By AFP
Uganda A file picture of Serbian Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic coaching South African club Orlando Pirates two years ago..  By STRINGER AFP
OCT 19, 2021 LISTEN
A file picture of Serbian Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic coaching South African club Orlando Pirates two years ago.. By STRINGER (AFP)

A South African court on Tuesday handed Uganda's national football coach Milutin "Micho" Sredojevic a three-year suspended sentence for two charges of sexual assault, prosecutors said.

The Serbian national returned to the "Cranes" in July.

The offences were committed last year when he was coaching Zambia.

"Earlier this morning, the Port Elizabeth regional court found former Zambian national football team coach, Milutin Sredojevic, ...guilty of two counts of sexual assault," the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said in a statement.

The three-year jail sentence was wholly suspended for five years, on condition he does not commit another sexual offence.

The offence arose from an incident in December 2020 during a regional tournament in the South African city of Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth.

A 39-year-old woman was serving coffee at a stadium and asked Sredojevic if he took sugar in his coffee, he said "no and added that he needed another type of sugar, pointing at her private parts," said the NPA.

Later in the day when the same woman returned to deliver coffee "Sredojevic touched her in an inappropriate manner".

The Ugandan Football Federation (FUFA) rehired Sredojevic this year. He quit the post four years ago in a dispute over $54,000 in unpaid wages.

He has signed a three-year contract with Uganda, which take in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which started in September.

He has been coaching national teams and clubs in Africa since 2001.

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