KAMPALA – Justice Jane Francis Abodo of the High Court has convicted a 37- year-old man for raping a 70-year-old woman.
Ssengendo, a casual labourer was convicted of raping his ex-master on November 26, 2015, in her house located in Jagala Village, Kavule parish, Gombe Sub County in Wakiso District.
While convicting him, Justice Abodo coincided with the opinion of the two court assessors that it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that the victim was raped.
Assessors are members of the public with no legal training are provided for under criminal trials and always give their unbinding opinion to court before it proceeds to deliver its final verdict.
The judge also noted that prosecution based its case on the testimony of the victim who told court that she recognized her abuser after touching his dreaded hair and hearing his voice as he threatened to kill her if she screamed.
The victim also said her abuser was wearing an overall and a cap which she felt as she fought with him.
Abodo also noted that the accused also told court that he had dealt with the victim for a long time so there is no way she would fail to recognise him.
She Nakanjako said that her abuser used to help her in keeping her animals and digging.
Testifying before court, Nakanjako narrated that in a bid to escape from Ssengendo who had already broken into her house and raped her yet she had given up on sex long time ago, she tried to trick him that she was HIV positive but he did not listen and instead continued to sexually assault her.
Nakanjako said she later escaped after the accused went looking for a basin after she deceived him that she wanted to ease herself.
“When I tried to run away from him, he pulled me and I fell down while shouting. At that point, one Kevina Nakabugo came to my rescue and Ssengendo varnished,” she narrates.
Nakanjako said after the incident she felt like her genitals had been cut by a sharp object and a lot of pain in her private parts thus reporting the case to Police and was later admitted to a health centre in Bwaise, a Kampala suburb, where she received medication.
Prosecution witness two, Nakabugo told court that she heard an alarm and someone knocking her door, saying “I am dying” and when she opened the door, only to see Nakanjako.
“When I asked her what had happened, she told me that Ssengendo had forced her into sex and she was feeling a lot of pain in her private part,” she narrates.
Nakabugo revealed that she offered her an ointment to relieve the pain and water to clean dirty clothes.
However, Ssengendo in his defense said he had never had dreaded hair and had never entered the victim’s house even though he had worked for her as a casual labourer for some three months.
The Judge has set the sentencing date for December 14.
