Sodomy tape evidence okayed

Sep 01, 2011

THE Super FM recording that allegedly implicates four city pastors in tarnishing pastor Robert Kayanja’s name with sodomy allegations will be used as evidence, the court ruled yesterday.

By Anne Mugisa

THE Super FM recording that allegedly implicates four city pastors in tarnishing pastor Robert Kayanja’s name with sodomy allegations will be used as evidence, the court ruled yesterday.

Magistrate John Patrick Wekesa observed that pros¬ecution did not follow the proper procedure for bringing evidence to court, but said it would not cause injustice.

He said the witness, Mu¬wonge Mulindwa, recorded t5he utterance and that the defence will have chance to cross-examine him.

“It is up to the court to evaluate the evidence to see if it can help it come to a just conclusion,” Wekesa ruled.

Immediately after the ruling, the lawyers defending the four accused pastors applied for leave to appeal against the ruling.

“At this stage, we intend to appeal this particular ruling. Secondly, we also seek op¬portunity, together with pros¬ecution, to meet you in your chambers,” Sekabanja said.

The defence lawyers had protested the use of the recording, saying the manner in which the state was bring¬ing it to court defied the set rules which, cast doubt on its authenticity.

They said prosecution had refused to present the recording to the broadcasting council for authentication and was instead sneaking it to court without informing court and the defence in advance.

The accused pastors are Solomon Male, Michael Kyazze, Martin Ssempa and Robert Kayiira. Their co-defendants are Dorothy Kyomuhendo and David Mukalazi.

The magistrate said the de¬fence lawyers could not claim to have been ambushed yet prosecution had asked them if they needed time to study the new evidence, which the lawyers refused.

Meanwhile, the Police yesterday chased away sup¬porters of Kayanja from court premises for persistently at¬tacking and insulting the ac¬cused. The group had stayed in their cars in the court’s front parking lot following their ban from the courtroom the previous day.


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