Court upholds 20-year-jail term for man who defiled 3 pupils

Three Court of Appeal Justices have upheld a 20-year jail sentence handed to a 45-year-old man who defiled three pupils, knowing he was HIV positive.

Led by Justice Cheborion Barishaki, the panel saw no reason to interfere with the decision of the then Mukono High Court Judge Margaret Mutonyi and ordered the appellant, Mr. Lukwavu Yusuf, to continue serving his sentence.

Lukwavu pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated defilement. According to the prosecution, in February 2016, at Namwezi Zone in the Buikwe District, Lukwavu, who was infected with HIV, performed sexual acts with three girls aged between 7 and 10 years old.

The court found that in early February 2016, Lukwavu lured the girls into a valley, where he offered them sweets that made them unconscious. He then proceeded to perform sexual acts on all three of them.

Lukwavu reportedly warned the girls not to report the incident. However, later that same month, he took them to a graveyard and again performed sexual acts on them, one at a time.

Written by Ruth Anderah