Uganda sports boss released after sodomy verdict overturned

A court has released former Ugandan football boss Chris Mubiru who was last year found guilty of sodomy in a sensational case that made headlines across the country.

Mubiru was convicted in September for having sex with another man, allegedly against his will. The trial was preceded by lurid reports splashed across the front pages of some tabloids, complete with claimed pictures of the incident.

At the time, the judge dropped one consensual sodomy charge but found Mubiru guilty of non-consensual sodomy, because his victim claimed to have been drugged before being raped in 2009.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. On Tuesday, however, Kampala High Court judge Wilson Musene Masalu overturned the verdict and released Mubiru.

According to the Daily Monitor, Judge Masalu said that the alleged victim should not have waited till 2013 to lodge a complaint and also noted that there was no medical corroboration or other evidence of his claim again Mubiru.

Video footage presented to the court was dismissed because it apparently did not actually include or depict the complainants in the case.

“I find that the trial magistrate failed to evaluate evidence and wrongfully convicted the appellant. I therefore set aside the sentence by the trial court and set him free,” Justice Musene ruled.

Mubiru, the former manager of The Cranes, Uganda’s national football team, repeatedly denied all charges against him.