adminKampala — A retired British man at the centre of a gay sex case in Uganda was expected to be deported yesterday, a court ruled.
“The court orders immediate deportation within 12 hours,” of Bernard Randall, judge Hellen Ajio said.An earlier charge of “trafficking obscene publications” against Randall was dropped.
An official from the prosecutor’s office gave no reason for the change, but said Randall was being deported because he had “kept on corrupting Uganda’s youth” and had not renewed his visa on time. “Lies!” retorted Randall, although his lawyer, John Francis Onyango, said the ruling would not be appealed.
The lawyer had asked that his client be given five days in which to leave the country. Officials at the court in Entebbe, outside Kampala, said police would accompany Randall to his home and allow him to collect his personal belongings before escorting him to the airport.
The charges were brought against Randall after his laptop was stolen and films on the computer were handed to a Ugandan tabloid newspaper.
A former computer systems expert who comes from Kent, southeast England, Randall first travelled to Uganda in 2011, shortly after his wife died just short of their 40-year wedding anniversary. He returned on holiday to Uganda in September.
Randall, who has two grown-up daughters, only came out as a homosexual after his wife’s death. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda. A law adopted by parliament last month but rejected by President Yoweri Museveni would have seen repeat homosexuals jailed for life. — AFP
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