Uganda, April 7 -- Many Kampala lawyers don't particularly like to handle criminal cases; and that is how I got this one - via a late night call from a lawyer friend. I had to drive 320km to get to a police station in Kampala, to rescue a young foreigner.

In criminal proceedings, initial reports can be very tricky. That's because quite often, first information is scanty and delivered by people on tension or deeply stressed; and if it's at night, someone along the information value chain just might have been really high on cheap beer - or even gently tilting into a booze-induced coma.

The information, as a result, usually keeps changing - you can begin with a shirt and end up with a bed sheet.

First information was that he was charged w...