By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
NATIONAL
Court sitting at Buganda Road Grade one magistrate on Thursday adjourned to January 30i acase in which Richard Wandera, the Makerere University lecturer is accused of assaulting two female students during a lecture.
Wandera came on to spotlights in November after a video of him at the department of Social Works and Social Administration (Swasa) awashed social media while slapping a female student and ordering her to leave his class.
This was during a lecture session at the Frank Kalimuzo Central Teaching Facility.
The two students; Aikoro and Mirembe had allegedly ignored the lecturer’s persistent pleas to stop making noise in class prompting him to issue out a punishment.
Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe immediately interdicted Wandera and directed investigations into the matter after the video attracted heated debate from feminist groups and the general public.
Wandera however denied charges when he was produced before court and was granted a cash bail of Shs1.5m.
Re-appearing before Buganda Road Court for trial on Thursday (December 15), the suspect’s lawyer Bazeketta told court that the two victims have since forgiven their lecturer.
In a letter allegedly authored by the victims, they asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to drop the cases against Wandera.
Court Magistrate Otwao did not get satisfied by the lawyer’s words and asked him to convincingly address him on the law and sections pertaining to the withdrawal of charges before he exercises his discretion in the matter.
Meanwhile, the case was adjourned to January 30, 2023 as further authenticity of the alleged letter is being scrutinized.
