Man jailed 35 years for defiling own daughter

The High Court in Mbarara has sentenced a man to 35 years’ imprisonment for defiling her nine -year old daughter.

Godfrey Twesigye committed the offence in 2013 and the current Principal Judge, Flavian Zeija had handled the matter while still a trial judge and was in advanced stages.

However, over the weekend, when Zeija returned to Mbarara, he convicted and sentenced the accused to 35 years’ imprisonment after considering the seven years he has spent on remand.

The Principal Judge said the sentence was not only punitive but also retributional given the offence’s long term traumatic effects and stigma on the victim.

“It might affect her marriage in case she gets in an argument with the husband, he might use it against her saying, no wonder you were even defiled by your own father,” Zeija said in his judgment.

The judge equally toured the High Court and Magistrates Court in Mbarara and Judges, Tadeo Asiimwe, Joyce Kavuma; Chief Magistrate Samuel Twakyire and several other grade one magistrates welcomed him.

The Principal Judge was told a number of challenges including understaffing, lack of a remand home, lack of sufficient space in court, lack of archives, lack of enough offices and non- operational ICT equipment among others that deter the dispensation of justice.

He was told that this has led to a case backlog at the court circuits.

Justice Zeija later proceeded to Ntungamo where he was told of the same challenges of case backlog especially in criminal matter caused by either non-committal of accused persons or lack of state attorneys to prosecute cases in the area for the past two years.

In response, he promised to engage the Director of Public Prosecutions to have the issue of lack of state attorneys addressed.

“We should not have criminal cases as backlog. Liaise with state attorneys to deal with pending committals,”Zeija said.

The Principal Judge is currently undertaking a countrywide tour of all the court circuits in a bid to familiarize himself with them but also listen to challenges they face.

He is expected to conclude the inspection with Jinja, Arua, Mbale and Masindi High Court circuits.