Makerere Professor Rape Case Risks Closure as Student Witness Fails Appear Before Court

Makerere University Professor Christopher Bakuneta allegedly sexually harassed  Vanesha Ntegesa, a student on March 27, 2016.

A case against the College of Natural Science lecturer and was arrested on on March 28, 2016 and remanded to Luzira prison.

However, in October the same year, Prof. Bakuneta was granted a Shs1 million bail by Justice Yasin Nyanzi.

The jury had made the decision basing on a letter which was tendered in court by the defendants lawyers.

It is alleged that the student wrote a letter on April 2016 to the Director of Public Prosecution-DPP to drop the charges of rape against the professor.

The letter indicated that the act was consensual not rape and that the victim had already forgiven him. However, the prosecution team denied knowledge about these accusations.

The case was to be heard on Tuesday before Justice Jane Francis Abodo but was adjourned to December 4, 2018 after main witness failed to appear before court.

The victim ‘s phone number was unreachable and her address was not traceable as she could have left the campus already.

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.