Glaser, also known as Bery, was on Wednesday granted a cash bail of 30 million Shillings by Kampala High Court Judge Moses Kazibwe to enable him to travel abroad for cancer treatment. However, he was sent back to prison after failing to raise the money and pronounced dead by Luzira prison authorities early today.
There is an uproar in Kalanga Islands following the death of German/Belgian national Bernhard Glaser who was operating a humanitarian home in the area.
Glaser, also known as Bery, was on Wednesday granted a cash bail of 30 million Shillings by Kampala High Court Judge Moses Kazibwe to enable him to travel abroad for cancer treatment. However, he was sent back to prison after failing to raise the money and pronounced dead by Luzira prison authorities early today.
Prior to his death, Bery was the Director of Ssese Humanitarian Services, a Community Based Organisation located at Mwena landing site in Kalangala district. The humanitarian initiative was allegedly set up to provide rehabilitation services to infected, affected, abused and violated girls in Kalangala district. The centre, known among locals as Bery’s place, also provided psychosocial care to victims of sexual-related offences.
At the place, Glaser hosted only female children who received training in reflexology and Sexual Reproductive Health. But later, he was arrested on allegations that he was abusing the power and authority he had over the minors that were under his care to instead sexually abuse them.
Disan Bisula, the Information Technology Officer at Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Trust Limited, says that Glaser’s death came shortly after they launched a fundraising drive to bail him out of prison. Bisula says they had reached out to several colleagues at the Islands who had managed to raise 11.46 million Shillings by Thursday shortly before they received news about his death.
“We expected to raise the money by Friday and our plans were to secure his release by Monday next week,” he noted.
Bisula has also blamed the court for not being considerate by holding Glaser on remand for a longer period despite his waning health condition. Glaser has been suffering from cancer that led to serious ulceration of a wound on his right cheek.
Denis Mubiru, a palm Oil grower on Buggala Island in Kalangala reacted with an outburst against some witnesses in Glaser’s trail who he accuses of using the Judiciary to satisfy selfish interest against the deceased.
Mubiru accuses Namusoke Asia Mbajja, the Director of People in Need Agency-PINA, an NGO operating in Kalangala for falsifying evidence against the accused person with an intention of victimizing him.
“You wished bad against Bery despite his generous contribution to the people of Kalangala, how I wish you also face the same predicament,” he wrote on social media.
However, Asia Namusoke denies harbouring any ill motives against Glaser, adding she was only interested in seeing justice. “His death is unfortunate for the trial because the children have not received justice which they have been craving for.
About the trial
Berry Glaser was first arrested on the same offences in 2013 after a search to his home in which detectives recovered dildos and lubricants which he was allegedly used on the minors before defiling them. However, the prosecution failed to adduce enough evidence against the suspect which led to dismissal of charges in 2015 by High Court John Eudes Keitirima.
Later on, in February 2019, Glaser was rearrested and his file reopened for retrial. He was accordingly presented before Masaka High Court Judge Winfred Nabisinde but declined to take plea arguing that he wanted Flemish interpreter to help follow the proceedings.
Through his lawyers Caleb Alaka and Evans Ochieng, Glaser insisted on applying for bail, to be allowed to go abroad for treatment, however, the court did not grant his prayers. Justice Nabisinde had offered to bring other trials to a halt and conclude Glaser’s case, but the accused’s lawyers insisted on severally applying for bail.
In the ruling, Nabisinde indicated that for the benefit of the accused person, Court could still not hear his bail applications without a Flemish interpreter through which he could closely follow the proceedings. The court heard that they had sought the German Embassy to source for them a competent Flemish interpreter after the option at Makerere University School of languages hit a dead end.
In his bail application, Bery indicated that he needed to seek treatment for stage four cancer of the skin (Melanoma) and diabetes, a request which was also rejected by justice Winfred Nabisinde on grounds that his health condition is not so grave to withstand trial. She noted that Glaser had not been denied access to any medical care and that all medical reports don’t reveal that there is an unmanageable condition that can result in death.
The Judge noted that accused person’s health situation could be managed locally at the Uganda Cancer Institute on the consultation of court. But upset by the disappointing ruling, Glaser lost his patience and shouted at the judge who she accused of bias; a claim he publicly made in English.
Prior to this, the head of Uganda Cancer Institute Jackson Orem said that there was evidence of progression of cancer, to a level that could not be handled by the Uganda Cancer Institute. Stage four melanoma means cancer has spread to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, brain, or other organs and tissue. It may have also spread to lymph nodes that are a good distance from the original tumour which makes it hard to cure.
Glazer’s defence team petitioned the Principal Judge to allocate the file to another judge prompting justice Nabisinde to withdraw from the trial. From that time, Bery remained in prison until he breathed his last.
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