Soroti city pastor guilty of illegal bullet possession

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The court in Tororo has convicted a Soroti city-based pastor after finding him guilty of unlawful possession of rounds of ammunition.

Pastor Georwell Emanu of Miraculous Synagogue Church in Tedwils Nakatunya along Lira Road was sentenced to either serve five years in jail or pay a fine of 300 currency points (sh6m).

Emanu was charged with two counts of possession of firearms and government stores after the Police recovered 28 tear gas canisters in his house.

The court presided over by grade one magistrate David Wanda, however, acquitted Emanu on the charges of possession of government stores after the prosecution failed to prove the matter beyond a reasonable doubt.

Prosecution presented that the accused was unlawfully in possession of 16 rounds of ammunition on top of the 15 rounds of ammunition that he had earlier acquired lawfully.

During the premeditation session, the court lowered the sentence from the earlier five years or pays a fine of 300 currency points after the accused pleaded for a lenient fine considering his current health status, where he claimed to have developed health complications while on remand.

He also claimed that while on remand, all the family businesses he relied on for livelihood collapsed and subjecting him to pay a fine of sh6m would mean he has been denied justice, yet from the onset, he has never missed any court session, even after getting bail.

He later paid the fine and was acquitted.

Emanu was arrested on November 16, 2023, during a search process that was conducted jointly by Police and Uganda Wildlife Authority officials at his home in Oriyoi “A” village, along Tororo-Malaba Highway in Morukatipe sub-county, Tororo district.

The search led by the then district Police commander Adam Kimuli, was warranted after Emanu declined to honour a police summons that he had been served with.

Police had summoned the accused on accusations of illegal possession of a Monkey that had grown wild and started biting people from the neighbourhood, in which seven pupils of the neighbouring Oriyoi Primary School had been bitten.

The cruelty of the monkey had equally compelled the school to close prematurely to safeguard the children.