Defilement cases are top of the High Court criminal session which kicked off on Monday.

In the session presided over by Justice Joseph Murangira, 29 of the 50 cases he is set hear are aggravated defilement.

Other cases include 10 of murder, 10 of aggravated robbery and one of rape.

At the beginning of the session on Monday, Justice Murangira presided over 21 cases which comprised nine of defilement. All the suspects denied the charges.

One of the prominent cases to be heard include that of city businessman Andrew Kananura alias Desh who is accused of murdering his worker. This is for the fourth time the case has been fixed for hearing in the High court’s criminal session.

Mr Kananura is charged with murdering Badru Kateregga, an employee at his Panamera Bar in Naguru four years ago. He is charged with four others: his brother Raymond Kananura, Cyrus Maganda, Samuel Muzulewa and Jacob Onyango.

The suspects are expected to appear before court today top plead to the charges.

In March this year, the case was for the third time scheduled for hearing, but the trial judge Wilson Masalu Musene excused himself from it citing local newspaper reports which had accused him of a personal interest in the matter. The case has not been heard since 2013.

Though these suspects took plea in 2014, they are expected to plead afresh since their case stalled after the state continuously changed prosecutors whenever the case was fixed for hearing.

In 2015 the last prosecutor Ms Jane Okuo sought court to adjourn the case to another criminal session, saying it was not a simple matter since she had over 40 witness statements for each of the accused persons.

Another case is that of two men accused of defiling a girl at Kyambogo University, the suspects Patrick Lugaye and Leo Kamugisha allegedly committed the offence on July 3, 2015.

The duo was accused alongside one Francis Okello, who confessed to the crime and turned into a state witness against his co-accused.