This archive report was first published on 17 August 2019.
On August 17, 2019, a High Court session at Gulu High Court in Uganda was suspended due to a technical issue.
The session was scheduled to begin at 9am, but padlocks to two cells at the court jammed, preventing the suspects from being brought to the courtroom.
According to a prison warder who spoke to Daily Monitor, several attempts by prison warders to open the padlocks failed, and they had to run back to the station to collect a hacksaw to cut and dismantle the padlocks.
There were over 65 suspects in the cells, and the judge, Justice Steven Mubiru, was forced to postpone the hearings to August 29.
Mr Joseph Akejo, a court official, confirmed that the court had no option but to adjourn all the cases, citing over 100 cases that were affected by the delay.
Among the suspects was 32-year-old Silvia Kyomuhangi, who was sentenced to two years in jail for injecting a six-month-old baby with HIV infected blood in Kitgum town.
However, Mr Frank Baine, the Uganda Prisons spokesman, disputed the claim that the jammed padlocks caused the suspension of the session, suggesting that it could have been resolved within 30 minutes.
