Lady Justice Dr. Winifred Nabisinde of Mpigi High Court has found guilty and sentenced to 30-years in jail, Christopher Damulira, a Boda boda rider and resident of Kanoni in Gomba district for raping his passenger.
The victim was only 17 years old. Court heard that on the evening of March 29, 2018, the girl hired Damulira to take her home some miles away from Kanoni town, only for him to turn against her when he pretended along the way to have run out of fuel in the middle of a forest.
Prosecution told the court that Damulira tried to seduce his victim but he was turned down, forcing him to wrestle her to the ground, tore her knickers and forcedly had sexual intercourse with her.
Damulira first pleaded not guilty, forcing the court to go for a trial.
The convict would later change his plea to guilty when court was about to decide whether or no he had a case to answer and pleaded for a lenient sentence. However, while delivering her judgment on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Nabisinde noted that the convict had wasted court’s time.
Adding that when the victim appeared before the court and narrated the evil things that happened to her, Damulira seemed unbothered and insisted that he hadn’t committed the crime. The judge argued that, that experience alone was torture to the victim.
The act of raping a passenger according to Justice Nabisinde, breached trust in Boda boda operators who are expected to execute their work diligently and gives a bad impression to many other good operators. People like Damulira she said, are making girls and women feel unsafe in their communities.
