MUK don accused of acid attack freed by DPP

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mike Chibita has discontinued the attempted murder case in which Makerere University lecturer, Dr Faizal Buyinza was accused of masterminding an acid attack on his wife Hanifah Nakyiryowa.

Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate Lillian Bucyana on Wednesday discharged Dr Buyinza after state attorney, Ms Lillian Omara presented to court a letter from the DPP for having lost interest in pursuing the matter against the economics lecturer.

Subsequently, the Chief Magistrate who had at the previous court sitting given the state the last chance to produce more witnesses set Dr Buyinza free.

A joyous Dr Buyinza, who had been in and out of court for the last two years briefly said: “God can never forget his servant.”
The discontinuation of the criminal charges against the don came at the time when the prosecution had for the past one year failed to produce more witnesses to testify against the suspect.

Since 2011 when Dr Buyinza was charged in court, only two witnesses had so far testified against him and the last state witness testified a year ago.They included; his wife the acid victim, Ms Nakyiryowa and her father.

Ms Nakyiryowa in her testimony that she gave in June last year; accused her husband Dr Buyinza of hiring an assailant who poured acid on her which acid he said also splashed on their one and a half-year old daughter leaving them nursing serious acid burns.

She had further told court that prior to the acid attack, Dr Buyinza had threatened her life and that on the fateful day of December 11, 2011, he lured her back to his house from where someone pounced on her at the doorway before pouring acid on her.

Prosecution had alleged that Dr Buyinza who is an economics lecturer attached to the Department of Economic Theory and Analysis, attempted to kill his wife on December 11, 2011 at Mugenyi Flats, located at Makerere University. He denied the charges.

According to court documents, Ms Nakyiryowa was married to Dr Buyinza for seven years and that at the time of the acid attack, their marriage was on the rocks and that she had left her matrimonial home and was staying with a friend.

She was at the time working as a monitoring and evaluation officer with Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UNICEF partnership programme.