General
Source: The Observer
A Village court in Masaka has sentenced a 39-year-old woman to six months in jail after finding her 'guilty' of infecting five teenage boys with Aids.
Besi Nassuuna of Kayijja village in Buwunga sub-county was convicted and sentenced on February 9, after a trial that lasted more than six hours.
The court was presided over by the Kayijja village chairman, Edward Kisekka, and his Kibindi village counterpart Muhammad Mawanda. It was convened after Muhammad Lubega and Hadija Nakafuuma, parents to one of the boys, petitioned the Kayijja village leaders.
Nakafuuma said she had learnt of Nassuuna's alleged affair with her 15-year-old son from a neighbour.
"A neighbour came to me out of concern, and informed me about her worries that Nassuuna had infected my son with HIV because she had seen her on several occasions sexually using my son," a teary Nakafuuma told the Village court.
Nassuuna is a two-time widow.
"We got several testimonies from residents confirming that she is sexually abusing young boys in the village. She has at least used five boys aged between 12 and 15," Chairman Kisekka told The Observer last week.
Nassuuna operates a retail shop in the village, from which she picks gifts that she allegedly uses to entice the boys.
"To the older ones, she gives alcohol and money before she seduces them to sleep with her," Kisekka further claimed.
Before this matter came to the Village court, unidentified residents had circulated notices in the two villages warning Nassuuna against her affairs. Nassuuna filed a case at Kibindi LC I against Nakafuuma whom she suspected for these defamatory notices.
The verdict
The judgment was delivered by the Kibindi LC I chairman, Muhammad Mawanda.
"Okusinziira ku bujulizi bwetufunye mu batuuze b'ebyaalo bino, omusango guno gukusse mu vvi," Mawanda read out in Luganda, loosely translated as: "Basing on testimonies by residents, this court finds you guilty."
Before her sentence, Nassuuna was asked to say something. She protested the entire trial and asked for the matter to be referred to competent courts of law. She also requested that all her alleged victims be tested to prove whether she had had any sexual relations with them.
Her submissions were rejected by the court, claiming ignorance of any tests to prove whether a boy had been sexually abused. Nassuuna was then given a few minutes to go and put her house in order before heading to the government prison at Buwunga sub-county headquarters.
The prison authorities, according to Kisekka, declined to admit her because they "do not receive referrals from Village courts".
She was then handed to Willy Lubega, the in-charge of Buwunga police post.
"We handed her over to police, because we feared that residents would lynch her if she remained at the village," Kisekka said.
Lubega later transferred Nassuuna to Masaka Central police station for further investigations.
"We kept her until this [Tuesday] morning when the boy that she is alleged to have used was brought that we transferred her to Masaka," Lubega said.
Unlawful
City lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuzi told us that the Village court acted in contravention of the law since under Section 129 of the Penal Code Act, such a case could only be tried by the High court.
He also reasoned that the law did not mandate Village courts to give sentences of imprisonment, because inmates should be taken to prison with a remand warrant which Village courts couldn't issue.