The Monitor, Kampala, 1 January 1997

Man fined for raping wife

In an unprecedented action, a 53-year-old man who was accused by his wife of raping her on Christmas Day has been sentenced to a fine of one goat, Shs 15,000 and six strokes of the cane by a clan and LC Court.

The man, Charles Okwir, a resident of Anai, near Lira town, appeared before the court, December 26, after being accused by his wife one Rose, 38.

Rose reportedly told court presided over by an elder kinsman that on Christmas Day at about 11p.m., her husband returned home drunk and forced her into sex yet she was sick.

"He knew I was ill, but still demanded for sex. I tried to plead but he refused and threatened to beat me and push me out of the house," the visibly sickly wife is quoted to have stated.

Okwir is reported to have brushed aside the accusation. "She is my wife. And I was so stimulated that I could not sleep without sex," the accused told court, attended only by elders.

The court found him guilty and warned him against repeating forceful sex on his wife. He was fined Shs 15,000 and a goat. Marital rape is a crime Uganda's male-dominated society has been reluctant about and early 1996 it ran into a storm in parliament, with the male MPs largely scoffing at it and the women MPs urging that a law be passed to punish it.

The Monitor, Kampala, 27 January 1997

Child battering dad beaten

A man who beat his 12-year-old son into unconsciousness and had gone into hiding was on Jan.21 arrested in Mbuya.

The child beater, only identified as Mukasa was arrested while hiding at his brother's home by a joint search mounted by LCs, LDUs and police of the area.

He was arrested after a tip-off from a neighbour who said he saw him (Mukasa) going to the latrine in the evening of Jan 20 the day he battered his son, Moses Kabali into coma.

Asked why he was keeping a wanted criminal, Mukasa's brother Abbey Ssentalo said he did not know Mukasa was wanted.

"He came here in the evening and said his sisters-in-law had paid him a visit and there was little room at his place. So I let him sleep here," Ssentalo defended himself. He was pardoned.

Mukasa was then led to an LC meeting where he was given 20 strokes of the cane in front of the residents including his wife and set free after his wife pleaded with the LCs not to take him to the police station since he was the family's only source of bread.