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Uganda: Businessman Held Over Wife Battering
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The Monitor (Kampala)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Maribel Vasquez and Solomon Muyita
Makindye
A KAMPALA businessman who allegedly battered his wife to the extent of breaking her spinal cord was yesterday sent on remand.
Mr Gerald Kawooya, 28, a resident of Namasuba-Zana was yesterday charged with unlawfully causing grievous harm to his wife. However, prosecution quickly applied for the indictment to be amended to a serious charge of attempted murder.
Business at the Chief Magistrates Court at Makindye in Kampala nearly came to a halt when relatives of the victim, Shamimu Namukwaya, 21, brought her to witness her "violent" husband face the law.
Court goers gathered around the ailing Ms Namukwaya, who as a result of the domestic violence has her lower body paralysed.
"She is unable to sit or stand. We have to carry her like a child to move her around," one of the victim's sisters said.
The conflict is said to have come about when the couple disagreed on whether or not to dispose off a family television set.
Due to her injuries, Ms Namukwaya is unable to work and cannot meet her medical bills. Her body is deteriorating at a very fast pace while the possibilities that she may die looms large among relatives.
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A State Attorney, Ms Winnie Ahimbisibwe, said the victim would be taken to the police surgeon for a re-evaluation as part of the process to have the original charge amended.
Unlike his original charge which attracts a maximum sentence of seven years on conviction, Mr Kawooya faces up to life imprisonment if the state proves its proposed attempted murder charge against him.
Ms Namukwaya's experience is one of the few reported cases of domestic violence in Uganda todate. Many cases of women who are battered and others that are killed in the process go unreported. A monopoly on violence and a law system that effectively addresses domestic violence are key to controlling gender based violence.
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