The Mwanga II Court magistrate, Adams Byarugaba, has rejected what he described as delay tactics by the defence team in the case involving nine youths charged with blackmailing Pastor Robert Kayanja.
“I need to know the person or the company and communicate with him or the organisation,” Byarugaba said. “Let counsel for the accused write to the court, disclosing what they want to be extracted and the expert, and the court will formally write to the expert and also hand over the gadget, and the process commences.”
He said the expert, who will later appear as a witness, must demonstrate how the information was extracted from the device without guidance from the suspects. “This idea of guiding the expert is out of the window,” he added.
His remarks followed a submission by state attorney Jonathan Muwaganya, who argued that the expert should remain independent.
“The expert is coming to interview the gadget, not the person, so we don’t have to be present. Any process where an interested party sits down with the expert to determine what to extract will be fraudulent. What they have to do is write down everything they want from the phone, and the expert does their job independently. Then he will come here to tell the court how he or she extracted the said information,” he said.
Meanwhile, the wider plot said to have been orchestrated by Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga of Christian Life Church in Bwaise appears to be weakening as the testimonies of the arrested youths continue to unfold.
On Thursday, the magistrate dismissed the defence team’s latest claim that their expert was unavailable to appear in court, saying the attempt was another effort to waste the court’s time.
Ssentongo, a witness currently under cross-examination, was also accused of following the same pattern as his co-accused: Sserugo, Labib Khalifa, Alex Wakamala, and Martin Kagolo. The group faces charges of fabricating evidence, giving false information to police, and criminal trespassing at Pastor Kayanja’s Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral.
In his testimony, Ssentongo claimed he joined Kayanja’s security team in 2017 at the age of 13 and was later sent for security training at the police school in Masindi at the age of 14.
His assertion drew scepticism, as the Uganda Police Force does not train minors. Documents he signed before the training, including his fingerprints, indicate he was 19 years old at the time.
In 2022, Ssentongo and his co-accused, Khalifa Labib, were sentenced to six years in prison for aggravated robbery and assault. They are currently seeking bail at the Masindi High Court before Justice Issa Sserunkuuma.
The court will resume on December 11, 2025.
