Complainant fails to show up for Makerere professor rape case

The trial of Makerere University Professor Christopher Bakuneta has hit a snag following the failure by the state to trace for the witness.

It is alleged that on March 27, 2016, at Makerere University, Bakuneta a lecturer at the College of Natural Science allegedly had forceful sexual intercourse with Vanesha Ntegesa, a student without her consent.

The case was scheduled for hearing on Tuesday before Justice Jane Francis Abodo but prosecution led by Catherine Akello asked for an adjournment on grounds that the complainant who is also the main witness had yet to be traced.

Akello said, the victim's phone number was not reachable and she was no longer at Makerere University, which was her address three years ago.

Justice Abodo accepted to adjourn the matter to December 4, 2018 as per the initial set of guidelines for the current criminal court session on Sexual Gender-based Violence-SBGV cases.

The guidelines which were agreed upon at the time when the session started, gave the state only one adjournment after which the case will be dismissed.

"We are still looking for the witness. We don't know where she’s. Let's hope we find her by the time we return," Ms Akello said after the adjournment.

Professor Bakuneta was arrested on March 28, 2016 and remanded to Luzira until October when he was released on bail.

Justice Yasin Nyanzi while granting him a cash bail of Shs1 million, based his decision on a letter which was tendered in court by his lawyers.

The letter had been written by the victim in April 2016, asking the Director of Public Prosecution-DPP to drop the charges of rape against the professor on ground that what happened between the two of them did not amount to rape and she had already forgiven him.

When asked about the letter, the prosecution team looked surprised saying they had never been briefed about the letter.