to her and because a group of about three boys were approaching him
aggressively he then drove off. He wanted to drive to the police but
saw a pregnant woman by the side of the road that he took to the
hospital. One of the ladies with the pregnant woman picked up a
phone at the back seat and gave to him. This phone is exhibit “A”. He
went to City Pop several times to hand over the phone to the
prosecutrix but did not find her there.
At the close of the hearing, both sides filed written briefs of arguments.
In his brief of arguments, Mr. Udombi, the learned state counsel
conceded to the need for corroborative evidence in sexual offence cases
under section 180 of the Evidence Act, but argued that while there is
corroboration in the instant case, the statutory requirement of
corroboration in rape cases should be considered as unconstitutional as
it discriminates against women qua women. In support of this head of
argument learned counsel referred the court to the Uganda Court of
Appeal case of BASOGA PATRICK v UGANDA (Cr App 42/2002).
Learned counsel further submitted that there was strong circumstantial
evidence from which the court could infer the commission of the
offences.
Mrs. Ogbedo of learned counsel for the defence submitted that there is
need for the evidence of PW1 to be corroborated, but that there was no
such corroboration. Learned Defence counsel noted that there were
contradictions in the prosecution’s case as far as the time the
prosecutrix boarded the taxi is concerned. She urged the court to
resolve the contradictions in favor of the accused person. Learned
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