The High Court in Kampala has set free a man whom prosecution had accused of defiling a 19 year old woman.
Joel Gampande had spent 3 years on remand at Luzira Prison on charges of aggravated defilement of this woman, who was under his guardianship being a niece to his wife.
Prosecution had alleged that Gampande from the year 2010 when the victim was 16 years old until 2013 when she reported the abuse, repeatedly defiled her.
However today Justice Wilson Masalu ruled that not only did medical examination evidence reveal that the victim’s private parts were consistent with habitual sexual intercourse but there was no reason for her to wait for 3 years to report the said abuse to authorities.
Justice Muesne has thus acquitted Gampande on grounds that since the sexual and marriage consensual age is 18 years, it is unfair to keep holding the accused in prison.
