High court judge justice Yasin Nyanzi has granted bail to Makerere University’s Professor Christopher Bakuneta who is accused of raping his student Versha Ntegeka.
Prof. Bakuneta was freed on a cash bond of 1 million Shillings and 5million non cash for each of the three sureties he presented in court.
He was then ordered by court to deposit his passport to the office of the registrar and will need to report to court every after ten days with effect from 15th November 2016.
The bail was given among others on the basis of the letter to the DPP by the complainant Versha Ntegeka, indicating that she had lost interest in the case. She says in the letter that her encounter with the accused did not tantamount to rape as claimed.
“I am the complainant in this matter and I have decided to forgive Prof Bakuneta because he is my long time friend,” she said. “After testing HIV Negative, I have decided to forgive him. His wife and children have pleaded with me to forgive him, which I have done,” she wrote.
With the key witness losing interest, Justice Nyanzi ruled today that there was no reason for keeping the suspect in confinement, despite the DPP’s insistence that the sureties provided were not substantive.
The development comes a few days after the same court was told this week that the rape victim has been visiting the suspect regularly in prison.
Prosecution alleges that on 27th March at Makerere University in Kawempe Division in Kampala District Prof Chris Bakuneta had sexual intercourse with Ntegeka Versha without her consent.