Bakuneta appeared before magistrate George Watyekere at Law Development Centre Magistrate’s Court this Tuesday in a session which the state prosecutor Ms Flavia Birungi informed court that inquiries into his case are in the final stages.
Investigations are expeted to be complete by the next hearing of June 7, where Bakuneta’s case will be committed to the High Court since the offence he is charged with is capital in nature and a magistrate’s court has no jurisdiction to handle it.
The case
Dr Bakuneta, a lecturer of Zoology at the College of Natural Science at Makerere University is accused of having raped Vasha Ntegeka, a university student who was living in his garage on March 24.
The student in her statement told police that she had not locked the door of her room when Dr Bakuneta entered and forced her into sexual intercourse.
Dr Bakuneta says it was consensual sex and it took place in his office at the Zoology department, not in the garage, the where the girl stays.
He says the girl reported the case to police two days later in afterthought.
HIV positive
Police spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga, previously stated that medical tests on Dr Bakuneta revealed he is HIV positive, which prompted the detectives to amend the rape charge to aggravated rape. The Police doctors put the victim on post-exposure prophylaxis drugs to stop her exposure to HIV.
Current medical tests show the rape victim is HIV negative.