ZCZC
BFF-07
UGANDA-ASSAULT-COURT
In Uganda, special court offers justice for rape
KAMPALA, Nov 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Courts across Uganda have begun trying
hundreds of stalled sexual violence cases, including many of child rape, in
an effort to provide long-overdue justice for victims.
Over a month, judges in 13 courts in six towns are aiming to hear 700 cases
of sexual violence, crimes that make up over 60 percent of capital offences
in Uganda, according to High Court judge Gadenya Paul Wolimbwa, who is
coordinating the initiative.
“Sexual and gender-based violence offences are the most common and
prevalent offences committed in Uganda, and from our reports only 10 percent
of these cases end up in court,” said Wolimbwa.
Official records show that over 211,000 sexual violence cases were reported
in 2015-16 while a UN children’s agency (UNICEF) report in August found that
one in three Ugandan girls were subjected to sexual attacks.
The special court sessions began on Monday aiming to make a dent in the
backlog of more than 6,000 outstanding sexual violence cases.
Wolimbwa said he hoped the hearings would prove successful, paving the way
for the creation of a dedicated sexual crimes court. “What we are looking at
is to have permanent special courts to try these cases,” he said.
– A range of rapists –
At the first hearing in the capital Kampala dozens of male suspects filed
into court, chained two-by-two, to appear before Lady Justice Jane Frances
Abodo.
They represented a cross-section of Ugandan society, from unemployed young
men to a middle-aged university lecturer. The alleged victims were similarly
diverse, including an eight-year-old girl and a wealthy businesswoman.
Some of the victims had waited as many as seven years to see their
attackers go on trial.
Rosemary Kyomugasho, a 38-year-old businesswoman, said her sister was left
traumatised after being robbed and gang-raped. “We have been going to court
for the last two years but the case is always postponed,” she said.
In the courtroom, Chris Bakuneeta, a former professor at Uganda’s Makerere
University, denied assaulting and raping a 22-year-old student who was living
in his garage in 2016, before Abodo adjourned his case for a week.
Later, Ivan Sewankambo pleaded guilty to raping an eight-year-old girl,
also in 2016, and threatening to strangle her if she told anyone.
“You are convicted on your own plea of guilty,” Abodo said, before moving
swiftly onto the next case.
The resolution left the girl’s father, 37-year-old Amon Bazale, relieved.
“It has been a painful journey since we began the court process in March
2016,” she said. “The rape left my daughter shaken. She at times wakes up in
the night shouting, ‘Dad! Dad! He is here!”
“I believe people who defile children must be sentenced to death,” Bazale
said, using an archaism for child rape that is widely-used in Uganda.
– Justice long delayed –
While Ugandan law allows for the death penalty for convicted rapists,
judges in the special court sessions — which are backed by the UN Population
Fund (UNFPA) — will issue maximum life sentences.
Some cases had taken so long to see their day in court that the
perpetrators had died in the interim.
Wolimbwa said that in Uganda “it is difficult to try these offences in
normal courts” partly because of the social stigma attached to victims of
rape — especially children — which discourages them from testifying, and
partly because of lack of funds.
“We only get 40 percent of the budget we need and from there we decide what
to do and that’s why we have the backlog,” he said.
Suspects, too, can become victims under the creaking slowness of Uganda’s
judicial system.
Alice Ssewagudde Nalongo, 56, whose son was accused of rape in 2016 and has
been in jail awaiting trial ever since, welcomed the holding of the special
sessions.
“It is a good thing the court is sitting, yet we are not happy because he
was framed and wrongly accused,” she claimed.
“How can someone spend two years in prison without being tried? If we win
the case shall we be compensated?”
BSS/AFP/MRI/0844 hrs