When a Christian lawyer has to defend clients accused of homosexuality

The information, as a result, usually keeps changing - you can begin with a shirt and end up with a bed sheet. 

First information was that he was charged with theft or assault; I began preparing to defend a theft or assault case. Halfway the journey, a family member said it was actually a rape; so even as I drove, I mentally began to prepare to defend a rape, hoping I could prove, inter alia, that the girl had consented. 

By the time I got to the police station, things had changed quite a bit: there were two young men, accused of having sex with each other. 

How criminal defence attorneys work
Some people expected me, at this point, as a Christian, to pull out of the case because these were “homosexuals”. I didn’t. People need to understand how criminal defence attorneys work. 

First, criminal defence is serious stuff: someone’s life and liberty are at stake – so we don’t play games. We put emotions, prejudice and petty sentiment aside and get to work. 

Second, Article 28 (3) (a) of the Constitution, presumes every accused person innocent until either they voluntarily plead guilty, or the State, through a fair trial, proves them guilty – so whom am I to adjudge them guilty? 

There is a third and even more critical reason: I never ask a client whether they did it or not. That’s none of my business: I am paid to prove that they didn’t. 

I’d be a complete idiot to ask, because at that point, I stand a risk of behaving like a prosecutor. 

As matter of fact, the client might as well get the prosecutor himself to defend them. Absolute baloney! Sheer claptrap!

A proper lawyer will be more interested in what witnesses and evidence the police have against the client; and how to tear all that to pieces. 

I was later joined by a couple of lawyers, one of whom happens to be the Kampala lawyer who can’t get over checked suits. 

Most criminal cases in Uganda can be torpedoed even before the trial begins, because the police, military and intelligence agencies habitually violate just about every provision in the Constitution that protects the rights of a suspect. 

That was the case with this one. The police had simply coerced and cajoled one of the young men into incriminating himself – and that is prohibited under Article 28 (11). The moment we raised an objection on this ground, the case went into coma and spent a few months on life support, before the court finally pulled the plug. Our clients are free men. 

In criminal defence practice, offences are basically the same – it doesn’t matter what the client is accused of – rape, defilement, murder, treason or whatever else. 

Prejudging accused persons
The moment you say “in this firm we don’t defend murderers or rapists”, it means you have prejudged the accused persons. You are presuming them guilty and are at odds with the Constitution that presumes them innocent. 

When lawyers begin wearing lenses of prejudice, they should have no place in the domain of criminal legal practice. 

I am fully persuaded that even if Lucifer himself walked into a Kampala law firm (he’s usually scarce in upcountry towns), a quintessential criminal defence attorney will not concern himself with the identity or reputation of Lucifer; his brief is to find out what charges the prosecution has preferred against Mr Lucifer and whether or not the evidence in the police file meets the threshold of incrimination. 

And if Bwana Lucifer is able to pay the legal fees, and (knowing him) in currency notes that are not forged, then he, Bwana Lucifer, is worthy of and entitled to proper legal representation.

Mr Gawaya Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda, [email protected]