A 43 year old nurse has been sentenced to a year in jail for conniving with a patient to present fake HIV results.
The case arose when on 24th of August 2015, Ms Samali carried out an HIV test on one Don Byakatonda and found him HIV positive but on his request, Samali falsified the results, indicating that the patient was negative.
The patient then used the fake results to lie to his stay at home wife that he is HIV negative.
Ms Samali is a nurse at JBK medical clinic located at Kawuku.
She has been asked to pay a fine of Shs2 million or serve a 12 months imprisonment term at Kigo government prison after court found her guilty of ushering false HIV results.
In a case that has dragged on for over a year, court heard that Byakatonda a former employee of the Aids Research Center in Kampala had earlier on carried out a test at Ebenezer clinic laboratory in Kampala on 3rd March 2015 which was positive.
I was coerced
In her defense however, Samali who admitted to altering the results said that she was forced by Byakatonda to change the results after he pulled out a pistol and forced her to give him the results he wanted to which she agreed to do in fear of her life.
Judge defends punishment
Her Worship Mary Kaitesi while passing the sentence said that Samali had unlawfully and negligently changed the HIV results of Don Byakatonda and that although the offence committed attracts a maximum penalty of 7 years, court took into consideration of effect of action, the accused being a first time offender and profession of the accused.
