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Last week inside Uganda’s courtrooms, justice unfolded in dramatically different ways.
In one courtroom, appellate judges confirmed a prison sentence for a man convicted of rape more than a decade ago, bringing a long and painful legal battle to a close for a young woman from Sironko.
Across Kampala, prosecutors in the treason-related trial involving opposition figure Dr Kizza Besigye abruptly abandoned a contentious witness protection request after weeks of legal argument and rising frustration from the defence.
And in another High Court matter, a judge ordered the exhumation of a businessman’s remains and DNA testing for 26 people claiming to be his children, in a succession battle already fractured by grief, contested identities and competing claims over inheritance.
Together, the decisions captured how courts often become the place where Uganda’s most personal and politically sensitive disputes are forced into the open, where criminal accountability, constitutional rights, family conflict and state power are examined in full public view.
RAPE CONVICTION UPHELD
In the Court of Appeal, a panel of three judges upheld the conviction and sentence of James Wolera, dismissing his challenge against both the guilty verdict and the punishment handed down by the High Court.
Wolera had been convicted of raping an 18-year-old woman in Namengo Village, Bukiyi Sub-county in Sironko District in August 2014. The sentence, 16 years and two months in prison, will stand. Justices Hellen Obura, Eva Luswata and Florence Nakachwa ruled that the evidence presented in the case and the circumstances surrounding the attack fully supported the earlier decision.
“The sentence of 16 years and two months imposed by the High Court is hereby confirmed,” Justice Obura said while delivering the ruling.
Court records showed that Wolera sexually assaulted the woman after threatening to kill her. The judges noted that violence and intimidation were central to the attack and did not stop once the offence had been committed.
According to the court, Wolera later taunted the victim and told her she had become his wife. The threats continued until she managed to break away and reach a nearby home, where she received help. Prosecutors had also filed a cross-appeal asking the Court of Appeal to increase the sentence. But the judges declined.
“There is nothing to compel us to enhance the sentence,” Justice Obura ruled.
The panel noted that sentencing decisions should only be disturbed in limited circumstances, including where a lower court acted unlawfully or relied on the wrong legal principles. In this case, they found no such error. The sentence remained within judicial guidelines.
The High Court had considered a 20-year prison term but reduced it after accounting for the time Wolera had already spent on remand. For the complainant, the ruling closes a legal challenge that stretched more than ten years after the offence itself.
PROSECUTION DROPS WITNESS PROTECTION BID
In Kampala, another courtroom took on a very different kind of tension. The state withdrew an application it had earlier filed seeking protective arrangements for key witnesses in the criminal trial involving Dr Besigye, Hajji Obeid Lutale and UPDF Captain Denis Oola.
The prosecution had initially argued that some witnesses faced security concerns and should testify under restricted conditions that would conceal aspects of their identities. But after objections from defence lawyers and a brief adjournment, prosecutors reversed course.
“The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has now agreed to make full disclosure to the defence team while relying on alternative witness protection measures,” Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka told court.
The change was significant. Defence lawyers had strongly opposed the application, arguing that limiting witness disclosure undermined the accused persons’ right to a fair hearing and had delayed progress in the case since April. Leading the defence, Kenyan lawyer Martha Karua sharply criticised the prosecution.
“We demand withdrawal with cost and prejudice because there has been a lot of time wasting,” she told court. She said the repeated adjournments had carried personal and financial cost.
“I have been running here and there, assuring us that such an application would never resurface, but I also need compensation for expenses that I have been spending flying from Nairobi to here,” she said.
Justice Henry Peter Adonyo Baguma acknowledged the delays but declined to award immediate costs. Instead, he directed the prosecution to proceed with preparations for the substantive hearing.
The criminal case itself remains politically charged. Besigye and his co-accused face allegations tied to an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the Government of Uganda between 2023 and 2024. The witness protection dispute may be over. The broader case remains very much alive.
COURT ORDERS DNA TESTING
Then there was the inheritance battle that may prove among the most emotionally complex succession disputes in recent years. On May 22, Justice Celia Nagawa ordered the exhumation of businessman Benon Kigambo Tumwesigye’s remains.
The purpose: DNA testing. The late businessman died in June 2022 without leaving a will. Now 26 individuals say they are his biological children, and each is seeking recognition as a beneficiary of the estate.
The ruling directs that DNA samples be collected from all the alleged children, several of their mothers and the deceased himself. At the centre of the dispute is Maria Doreen Domina, who petitioned court as Tumwesigye’s widow. She challenged the paternity of several individuals listed as beneficiaries.
“The Court ought to ensure that the persons standing to benefit are indeed the legitimate biological children of the deceased,” she submitted.
Court filings indicated she also argued that many of those claiming to be children only emerged during burial arrangements and had not been known to her during her relationship with Tumwesigye.
The application was strongly resisted. Several respondents accused her of trying to narrow the list of beneficiaries to secure a larger share of the estate. They also questioned her claim to widowhood, producing documents they said came from the Superior Court of California showing that the marriage had allegedly been dissolved in 2014.
They further argued she later remarried a man identified as Lamont D. Jackson. Justice Nagawa left that issue for another day.
“The central issue in this application concerns the proper identification of the lawful beneficiaries of the estate,” she ruled.
She acknowledged the emotional strain DNA testing could bring. But she also made it clear that the conflict was already deep.
“Twenty-six people, born to multiple mothers, are fighting over the estate of one man. That division did not originate with this application,” the judge said.
“The question before this Court is not whether the sibling kinship test will create conflict, it is whether the conflict that already exists will be resolved justly and finally.” Then came perhaps the most powerful part of the ruling.
“The results of a DNA test will bring scientific certainty to a dispute that is presently grounded in assertion, denial, and competing claims of identity.” Justice Nagawa went further.
“For these children, a conclusive determination of their biological relationship to the deceased is not an intrusion, it is a constitutional right,” she said.
“Whatever the outcome, they are better served by knowing the truth than by proceeding on assumption.”
The Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratory in Wandegeya, together with the Government Pathologist, will conduct the testing and supervise the exhumation.
Adult claimants and mothers were given four days to submit samples. Anyone refusing may have their claim suspended. Until then, the Administrator General cannot distribute the estate.
FIVE CHARGED OVER DOUBLE MURDER AT MAGA MAGA
And before the week ended, another serious criminal matter reached the General Court Martial. Five people, including four UPDF soldiers, were charged with the murder of a fellow soldier and a civilian woman at Maga Maga Barracks in Mayuge District.
According to prosecutors, the accused allegedly participated in the killing of Private Rogers Mubale on November 23, 2025. They also allegedly caused the death of Serina Karara. The charges were read by Brig Gen Richard Tukachungurwa.
Capt Alex Mukwana, appearing for the prosecution, told the court investigations were still ongoing and asked for the matter to return on another date. The prosecution also requested that the four soldiers be remanded to Makindye Military Detention Facility and the female accused to Luzira Women’s Prison.
Taken together, the week’s proceedings revealed the extraordinary range of disputes Uganda’s courts continue to handle. A criminal appeal rooted in violence and trauma. A politically watched prosecution balancing disclosure and due process.
A deeply personal inheritance battle shaped by science and constitutional rights. A military murder case still under investigation. Different courtrooms. Different facts. Different stakes. But the same legal system carrying the burden of resolving conflict, protecting rights and testing evidence in public.
Related
, https://observer.ug/news/besigye-accusers-to-testify-in-open-court/
