Court clears Makerere official of attempted rape of Kenyan female student, fines him Shs4m for indecent assault

Buganda Road Court has acquitted Edward Kisuze, a Makerere University senior administrative assistant in the Academic Registrar’s Department, of rape of Kenyan student Rachel Njoroge Njeri.

Chief magistrate Miriam Akello ruled: “All ingredients of indecent assault were proved beyond reasonable doubt by the prosecution witnesses. The accused is hereby sentenced to a fine of Shs4m or in default serve two years in jail.”

Prosecution had alleged that on April 13, 2018, Kisuze attempted to rape Njeri in his office where the student had gone to pick his transcript.

Njeri told court Kisuze had attempted to ‘romance’ her without seeking her consent before laying his hands on her body.

She even took photos to prove that Kisuze had attempted to rape her after banging his office door closed.

KISUZE’S DEFENCE

But Kisuze said he was not the man seen in the photos that Njeri published online, sparking public outrage.

The university administrator told court Njeri had come to his office complaining about the manner in which the university officials had frustrated her efforts to have her academic papers certified.

Kisuze claimed that Njeri looked tired, hungry and dizzy and that she even told him she hadn’t eaten anything since morning.

Before he knew it, further narrated Kisuze, Njeri was crying and later lost her consciousness.

He even thought she suffered from epilepsy, he told court.

Kisuze continued: “I was stuck, I did not know what to do.”

But he later “managed to find some drinking water for her,” after which “she started gaining consciousness.”

It was after coming to that “she asked what I was doing with her” while still crying. The first thing she did after regaining her consciousness, according to Kisuze, was to fish her phone from her bag.

In the end, Magistrate Akello acquitted Kisuze of attempted rape.