forced to go to the gathering place where a big crowd of people were seated.
Once there, instead of presenting the so-called “witches”, it was rather
mistresses’ woman commonly called “deuxième bureau” that were presented
to the public. It was thus that the women MAGUY, KAKASHE BATOWA,
NSIMIRE JUSTINE, KUNGWA BABUNGA and CHANCE ALUMA were one
after the other forced to strip naked in the middle of the crowd, to lay down on
their backs, legs spread open with their knees raised; to insert a finger inside
their vaginas while showing the public; to stand, bend over with their legs
spread to show their buttocks to the public; to rip out their pubic hairs and to
each fulfill a set fine of two pieces of gold and a hen for the first, a piece of
gold and a hen for the second and a hen for the fourth.
Outraged, the President of the Lugushwa civil society denounced these
events in a letter with the subject being “scandalous barbaric acts, indecent
assault, sexual violence within the Catholic Churches property on the
19/08/2009”, addressed to different bodies including the Lugushwa National
Police Station. In light of this letter, the Lugushwa Police started an
investigation that led to the filing of a criminal case at the office of the Chief
Prosecutor of Kamituga, which ended with accused MUKWANDUME
MOMBOLO being sentenced by the Uvira High Court, secondary
headquarters of Kamituga as described above ; hence this appeal.
The appellant did not identify any grievances against the judgment rendered;
he simply limited himself to stating in his appeal that he did not accept the
judgment RP 1203 in which he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in
Kamituga, without giving motives to his refusal; When questioned about the
charges against him during the course of the hearing for this case, the
accused denied them on the grounds that he was in Kakangala the day of the
events. However, he explained that it was because he met the young boys
coming from the initiation at “Kirobilikiti” that this spirit had demanded that the
women of the village be exorcised and that as traditional leader he had to take
care of it.
The Court notes that all the victims confirmed both during the Court hearing
and before the first judge that the accused MUKWANDUME was present the
day of the events and that it was he who led the operations by ordering them
to strip naked in the manner described above. This statement is logically
confirmed as by arguing that in his role of traditional leader he had to obey the
order of the Kimbilikiti by organizing the traditional exorcism ceremony of the
women of the village, he can no longer claim that he at Kakangala; Moreover,
according to the lega custom, the Kimbilikiti spirit remains in the forest and is
invited by the Mwami or guardian of customs at the time of rites or traditional
ceremonies; however, by inviting this spirit in his capacity of Mwami and
guardian of customs, the accused knew that acts of indecent assault were
going to be committed and he should have taken preventative measures to
avoid them.
As for the events described, the Court notes that the accused did not contest
their material status; the Court therefore adopted the qualification of indecent
assault given by the first judge. Indeed, under the terms of article 167 of the
Penal Code as is amended and supplemented by law N°06/018 of July 20 th