The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Court of Appeal in Kampala has dismissed an appeal in which Geoffrey Byakatonda, a former headteacher at Kaaso Primary School, Kyaato, in Mubende District was challenging a jail term of 22 years imposed on him for defiling two minors.
It was alleged that on September 16, 2009, Byakatonda had sexual intercourse with two pupils aged six and seven. The court has heard that the two minors were from the same family and lived in the same household with the father of one and a guardian of the other.
It is alleged that Byakatonda called each of the girls to his office separately and had sexual intercourse with them on the same day. The child who was defiled first narrated her ordeal to the other in the presence of a boy aged five, while the second child was reportedly defiled in the presence of the same boy who then reported what he saw in Byakatonda’s office to his parents.
The information was then relayed to the defiled girl’s mother who reported the matter to the Local Council Chairman. The parents then pressed charges against Byakatonda at Kasambya Police Station and upon medical examination of the two minors, it was established that both were defiled.
Byakatonda was accordingly charged in the High Court, convicted and sentenced to 22 years in jail. in 2014, Byakatonda appealed against the conviction and sentence on grounds that the trial judge relied on evidence of the prosecution which was inconsistent and contradictory to convict him.
He argued that the judge failed to properly evaluate the evidence which was unreliable and unbelievable and this occasioned a miscarriage of justice for him resulting in a harsh and excessive punishment.
Byakatonda’s defence was that on the of the said rape, the school was surrounded by teachers implying that he couldn’t have engaged in such an act in the presence of others. He added that he was beaten up and framed for the offence because he owed money to the victim’s other relative.
But his appeal was dismissed by a panel of three Justices; Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, Lady Justices Irene Mulyagonja and Eva Luswata after finding that the sentence was not in any way harsh and excessive as Byakatonda had stated.
In their ruling, the Justices have said that although the children said that they did not feel pain during the sexual act, the doctors indicated that pain assessment in infants and children is challenging due to the subjectivity and multidimensional nature of pain.
They said that this is because doctors indicated that the limited language, comprehension and perception of pain are expressed contextually whereas in some children it can be difficult to distinguish between pain, anxiety and distress. As such, the Court has ruled that it is therefore possible that the force used in the sexual assault of the minors was insufficient to cause them to state that they didn’t feel pain.
In addition, the Justices have observed that the setting of the crime was rural and the grass-thatched school had only one teacher Byakatonda after another had reportedly left for not being paid salaries.
“On the basis of the evidence on the record, we find that there is no other person who could have defiled the child apart from Byakatonda whom she knew very well as her teacher and the headteacher of her school.
The court has heard that Byakatonda breached the duty of trust to the children and their parents and the courts have a duty to demonstrate that a headteacher who conducts himself in this despicable manner deserves a deterrent sentence.
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