The Lira High Court has granted pardon to individuals convicted of aggravated defilement under a plea bargain agreement, aiming to alleviate overcrowding in prisons.
Hon. Lady Justice Sarah Birungi Kalibbala, who presided over the ruling at the Lira High Court, released two men who had been convicted of aggravated defilement.
Justice Birungi released a 32-year-old man named Waisaku Moses, who had spent five years and six months in prison for allegedly defiling an 8-year-old girl in the Lira City West division in 2022.
The judge noted that Waisaku had lured the girl with 500 shillings while her guardian was away and engaged in sexual intercourse with her, despite being STD positive, which put the victim at risk of sexually transmitted infections.
In a similar case, Denis Omara, 28, from Bario village in Abok sub-county, Oyam district, was also pardoned after admitting guilt for defiling a 14-year-old girl.
Justice Birungi stated that Omara, who had been in custody for four years, had coercively persuaded the girl in a garden in 2021 before fleeing, but was later apprehended by the police.
She cautioned the offenders to return home with the understanding that this is a serious crime and to strive to become reformed citizens after they admitted their guilt and sought forgiveness from the court.
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