Winnie Cleared Of Gun Charge

Jan 13, 2003

Winnie Byanyima turned 44 yesterday and a Kampala court handed her a gift for celebration.<br>Buganda Road chief magistrate Frank Othembi acquitted the in-and-out of court Mbarara Municipality MP of charges of possessing a firearm and ammunition illegally after months of trial.

By Jude Etyang
Winnie Byanyima turned 44 yesterday and a Kampala court handed her a gift for celebration.
Buganda Road chief magistrate Frank Othembi acquitted the in-and-out of court Mbarara Municipality MP of charges of possessing a firearm and ammunition illegally after months of trial.
“I am 44 today and a free woman. I am pleased with the judgement,” Byanyima said outside the court after Othembi read the verdict.
A loud hand-clap resonated through the courtroom which was packed with Reform Agenda (RA) activists, sympathisers and multiparty MPs.
When the court adjourned at 10:45am, Byanyima’s supporters dashed to the dock to congratulate her.
Byanyima is the third highest official of the RA, the group which spearheaded former presidential candidate Col Kizza Besigye’s campaign in 2001.
Wearing a green kitenge, her trademark attire, Byanyima was swamped by fans who struggled to hug and kiss her outside the court.
Byanyima told journalists that she was pleased with Othembi’s verdict given that “the executive has waged a war on the judiciary.”
She hailed Othembi for what she called an independent verdict when the judiciary was under pressure to persecute opposition politicians. She thanked her lawyers, Erias Lukwago and Kayemba Mutale, for “fighting for my freedom.”
MPs present were for Samia Bugwe North Aggrey Awori, for Kawempe South, Sebuliba Mutumba, Kyadondo South, Issa Kikungwe and for Tororo county, Geofrey Ekanya. Ekanya is the RA secretary general.
RA officials included deputy chairman Sam Njuba, deputy secretary general Louis Otika, information and publicity secretary Betty Kamya, Hajji Obed Kamulegeya and Sebowa Kagulire for youth and environment respectively.
Byanyima is wife to the exiled Besigye, the RA chief.
In a 20-page judgement, Othembi said prosecution failed to prove that Byanyima was in possession or control of the numberless star pistol and seven bullets recovered from her residence in Luzira, a Kampala suburb, in September 2001.
The recovery was made when the CID was searching for terror suspect Deus Byamugisha. Byamugisha was on Police bond after Byanyima stood surety for him.
Byamugisha escaped from the residence the night before the gun was recovered from a bedside drawer.
Othembi said though the Police were searching for Byamugisha, Byanyima handed them the gun voluntarily. He said, “The accused was simply doing her civic duty by informing the Police of the pistol.
“PWI (first state witness) admits that they were interested in Deus who would not have fitted in the bedside drawer. The Police would not have found the pistol were it not for the accused.”
He said the court did not wish to scare citizens from reporting suspicious items, including firearms, to the authorities.
Othembi said nobody saw Byanyima take the gun into the house but said most probably Besigye took it into the house. He agreed with the defence team that the gun belonged to exiled Maj. Okwir Rabwoni.
He said Besigye’s pistol could have been mixed up with that of Rabwoni at Entebbe International Airport where the two once had a scuffle with security agents.
Othembi said sharing a bedroom with a husband did not mean ownership of all items in the bedroom.
Othembi disregarded the evidence of two Police witnesses, saying they “told obvious lies.”
He said one of the policemen who had lived in Uganda for 34 years and been in the Police Force for 14 years, said he did not know that Besigye was a presidential candidate.
“I cannot fathom the reasons for search obvious lies. The deliberate lies discredited their evidence and this court will not rely on their evidence,” he said.
Ends

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