Bushenyi High Court Acquits Doctor in Four-Year Rape and Incest Case

What the report says

Nile Post reported that the High Court in Bushenyi has acquitted Dr Geleverse Twine, a medical doctor who had faced rape and incest charges involving his biological daughter. Justice Amos Kwizera found that prosecutors had not proved the allegations to the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt, and ordered Twine’s release unless he was being held on another lawful matter.

According to the report, the case dated back to Twine’s arrest on June 29, 2022, after claims emerged that he had impregnated his daughter, who was then 17 and a Senior Three student at Bweranyangi Girls Secondary School. Court records cited by Nile Post said the matter followed the reported discovery of an incomplete abortion by a school nurse. The prosecution first brought a defilement charge before later changing the case to rape and incest.

Defence lawyer Michael Kasenene told TV West, as quoted by Nile Post, that the judge found the prosecution evidence inadequate after reviewing witness testimony. Kasenene said the complainant testified that she had not had sexual relations with her father and identified another person as responsible for the pregnancy. He also said some prosecution witnesses, including school officials, did not testify during the proceedings.

The ruling ends a case that Nile Post said had drawn public attention since the doctor’s arrest in 2022. In Uganda’s criminal justice system, an acquittal does not necessarily determine what happened outside court; it means the prosecution did not meet the burden required for a conviction.