August 1 was a day like any other. Kidega, a welder, returned home from work after 8:00pm. Supper was ready, but he preferred to first take a bath. 

 

From then on, there are conflicting accounts of what transpired, leading to the scalding of Kidega’s private parts. His maid, a 16-year-old, says Kidega abandoned the food and attacked her in the kitchen, in an attempt to rape her. 

 

Kidega, a resident of Vanguard Ward, Labourline Parish in Pece Division, Gulu district, maintains that the maid poured water on him because he slapped her for being slow.

 

He had previously attempted to rape me on four occasions and I reported some of the incidences to the landlady. 

 

Last week, when he returned home, he asked me to take him supper to his bedroom. His wife is a businesswoman and had been away in Juba. When I went to the kitchen, Kidega followed me. 

 

Before I knew it, Kidega was in the kitchen with me. He was bare-chested, with a towel wrapped around him. He changed his mind and requested for water to bathe before the meal. 

 

As I looked for the basin, Kidega became wild, slapped me in the face and held my hands from behind.

 

He started undressing me. I pushed him away and went straight to the fire and poured the boiling water on him in self defence.

 

When I got home, I entered the bedroom and waited for supper for more than 30 minutes, but it was not forthcoming.

 

I undressed and put on shorts. I wrapped a towel around myself and went to the kitchen instead, to ask for bathing water.

 

When I asked for water, she instead took food to my bedroom. She insisted that I should bring her a basin from my bedroom for the water. When I also stuck to my guns that she brings the basin from my bedroom, she ignored me. 

 

Her actions infuriated me, which made me slap her twice on the face. She immediately carried the boiling water from the fire and poured it on me. 

 

She then made an alarm, shouting that I was trying to rape her.

 

The mistake I made was to sleep with the burns without seeking medical attention.

 

 

When Doreen Oola, a resident of Awach sub-county, Gulu district, heard of the incident, she went to hospital to attend to her son. 

 

She said Kidega had left two women in the village and eloped with his current wife, who is on a business trip to Juba, South Sudan. By press time, none of them had turned up at the hospital to attend to Kidega.

 

She appealed for assistance, saying they did not have the money to treat Kidega’s burns.

 

The maid and Kidega have both recorded statements at Police. Jude Byamukama, an advocate of the High Court, takes us through the legal implications of the incident.

 

From the accounts of the maid, Kidega may be charged with attempted rape. However, the maid has a huge burden to prove her case.

 

To convict Kidega of attempted rape, there must be strong evidence to prove forceful undressing the victim (and the accused should also be naked), tearing away the victim’s clothes, while suggesting sexual intercourse.

 

Actually, there have been cases where even mere forceful undresssing of a victim has been held to be insufficient to prove the offence of attempted rape.

The maid would also need to tender in evidence of any injuries obtained during the ‘attempted rape’. 

 

The girl could also be charged with occassioning grievous bodily harm. From the look of things, the case against her has stronger evidence. The maximum sentence for attempted rape is life imprisonment, but courts often give sentences of between 10 and 15 years.

 

The maximum sentence for assault, occassioning actual bodily harm, is two years, while grievous bodily harm attracts a maximum sentence of seven years.

 

The landlady has always envied my wife because her business is flourishing. Several times, she has told me that my wife is older than I am. She said the maid had reported to her my alleged attempts to rape her. 

 

If I had feelings for her, I would have used other peaceful means to lure her into romance because I am always with her at home when my wife goes on a business trip. But I did not habour any such intentions. 

 

I forgive my maid because I know she was influenced to behave in such a manner. I do not think I can sue her. 

 

I also suspect that the maid could have got angry when we restricted her movements. Because she was taking care of our four-year-old baby, we told her it was not wise to move around with the baby. I think she was not happy by our directive.