Mwanga II Magistrates Court has ruled that nine youths have a case to answer for 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, the 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 employees at Lubaga Miracle Centre, misused their salaries and hatched a plan to falsely accuse Pastor Kayanja of sodomizing them to extort money from him.
The court found that the suspects forced their way into Lubaga Miracle Cathedral on September 17, 2021, and shouted vulgarities with the intention of annoying Pastor Kayanja.
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 Pastor Kayanja.
However, the court agreed with 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 on their defence, but they 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, Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Church told Magistrate Byarugaba that the nine individuals accused him falsely of sodomy.
He alleged a conspiracy to frame him, linking one of the accused, Israel Wasswa, to Pastor Ssenyonga, a longtime rival.
Pastor 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 Magistrates Court.
Pastor 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 17th 2021 in Kampala District conspired together to falsely accuse Pastor 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 Pastor Kayanja had performed unnatural offenses with them.
The prosecutors say they did this intentionally knowing that they would cause the said Nandutu and police to devote time and services to investigate information they knew was false.
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