Brian Isiko charged afresh over sending love messages to MP

Brian Isiko, the 25-year-old student who is battling charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication over sending love messages to the Kabarole district woman MP, Sylvia Rwabwogo, has been charged afresh and granted cash bail of sh1m by the Buganda Road Court.

On Thursday, High Court Judge Jane Frances Abodo ordered that Isiko be retried at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate's Court in Kampala.   

To order for a fresh trial, Abodo quashed and set aside Isiko's conviction and a two year jail sentence on grounds that the trial magistrate changed his plea of not guilty to a plea of guilty without following the proper procedure.

"Grade one magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu ought to have read and explained the offences and ingredients to Isiko in a language that he best understands and she records the exact words he must have responded to," she stated.

Abodo also cancelled the bail granted to the student of YMCA College of Business Studies, Jinja and directed that he be taken back to Luzira Prison until when he will be produced before Buganda Road Court for his trial.

Kabarole Woman MP Rwabwogo Sylvia. Photo by Roderick Ahimbazwe

According to the lower court record reproduced in the judge's ruling, Isiko first pleaded not guilty to the offenses but after MP Rwabwogo's testimony, he admitted to having sent the love messages, asserting that he wanted the MP for a friend to help him in his poultry business and education aspirations.

It is this partial admission that Kamasanyu took for a plea of guilty, thereby convicting Isiko and sentencing him to serve two years in jail.

In his application, Isiko contends that he is a first time offender and that the text communications he sent to Rwabwogo were not intended to hurt or insult her.

"I read my text messages to the complainants which were neither offensive, obscene, lewd, lascivious nor indecent," he states.

Meanwhile, Rwabwogo told court that the messages were obscene and rude, which disturbed her peace.

The court heard that Isiko between November 2017 and June 2018 at unknown places in Kampala, used a computer to send love messages to Rwabwoogo which he picked from lyrics and poems of famous musicians like Don Williams and Enrique Iglesias.