Mwanga II Magistrate’s court has ruled that the nine youths have a case to answer for allegedly falsely accusing pastor Robert Kayanja of sodomy.
The accused are; Peter Serugo, Reagan Ssentongo, Moses Tumwine, Khalifa Labeeb, Alex Wakamala, Martins Kagolo, Israel Wasswa, Jamil Mwanda, and Aggrey Kinene.
On Friday, court presided over by senior principal grade one magistrate Adams Byarugaba ruled that a prima facie case has been established against each of the nine suspects after analyzing evidence from 13 prosecution witnesses, including audio recordings, phone data records, and medical examination forms.
The court found that the prosecution presented overwhelming evidence that the youths, who were previous employees at Lubaga Miracle Centre misused their salaries and hatched a plan to falsely accuse Kayanja of sodomizing them in a bid to extort money from him.
The court found that the suspects forced their way into Lubaga Miracle Cathedral on September 17, 2021, shouting vulgarities with the intention of annoying the pastor. Despite their claims of being sodomized, medical examinations from Mulago hospital and Nsambya Health Center showed that they had intact sphincters.
The youths’ lawyers led by Humphrey Tumwesigye had challenged the prosecution’s evidence, arguing that there was no proof of common intention or agreement among the suspects to annoy Kayanja. However, the court agreed with the chief state attorney Jonathan Muwaganya that conspiracy can be formed in secrecy, and inference can be made through special circumstances.
The nine accused have accordingly been put in their defence, but have not yet indicated whether they will give sworn or unsworn evidence or remain silent. Three of the suspects are still on remand, and the case will resume on January 24, 2025.
In his testimony in October 2024, Kayanja told court that the nine individuals of a conspiracy to frame him, linking one of the accused, Israel Wasswa, to pastor Jackon Ssenyonga, his longtime rival.
Kayanja expressed frustration over the repeated false accusations against him, citing previous cases in 2010 and 2013 where he was falsely accused of sodomy. He noted that in the 2010 case, five pastors – Solomon Male, Michael Kyazze, Martin Sempa, Mukalazi, and Deborah Kyomuhendo were found guilty of falsely accusing him but were only sentenced to 100 hours of community service by the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s court.
Kayanja also referenced the 2013 case where two individuals; Moses Muhanguzi and Ibrahim Nsubuga, falsely accused him of sodomy. He stated that they were handed non-deterrent sentences for attempting to bribe a doctor to conclude that they had been sodomized.
The pastor declared, “enough is enough,” and requested a deterrent sentence for his accusers, believing that stronger punishment would deter future blackmail against other would-be accusers.
The prosecution alleges that the accused persons and others still at large on or about September 17, 2021, in Kampala district conspired together to falsely accuse Kayanja of unnatural offences. They are further accused of conspiracy to defeat justice, committing a felony, criminal trespass and giving false information to police.
It is alleged that Serugo, Ssentongo, Khalifa, Wakamala and Kagoro while employed in public service as police officers gave false information to police detective IP Cotilda Nandutu saying that Kayanja had performed unnatural offences with them.
The prosecutors say they did this intentionally knowing that they would cause Nandutu and police to devote time and services to investigate information they knew was false.