By Andante Okanya
and Eddie Ssejjoba

THE policeman, who is alleged to have shot and injured musician Moses Ssali alias Bebe Cool, was yesterday charged with five counts of attempted murder at the Nakawa Court.

Alfred Achikane, a Special Police Constable attached to Jinja Road Police Station, was produced before chief magistrate Deo Ssejjemba.

The magistrate read the charges to him through an interpreter. This was after proceedings were halted when Achikane said he would understand the charges better if they were read to him in his native Alur language.

The court heard that Achikane shot at Bebe Cool, his bodyguards Abbas Kayoyo, Allan Masengere, Godfrey Kayiza, and a fellow Special Police Constable, David Oluka, on January 30.

Achikane pleaded not guilty to the charges but failed to produce sureties after court granted him a chance to apply for bail.

He was remanded to Luzira Prison until February 23 when the case will come up for mention.

According to the charge and caution statement, Achikane was a vigilante attached to the Nakawa Division resident district commissioner’s office before joining the Police in 2007. He trained for two months before being deployed.

Attempted murder carries a sentence of life imprisonment upon conviction.