Pastor Robert Kayanja of Lubaga Miracle Center has asked the magistrates Court at Mwanga II to hand down heavy sentences if his alleged blackmailers are found guilty instead of lighter punishments that fuel further blackmail.
“The slapping people on the wrist sentences after tarnishing people’s names has caused this to continue and continue. Everybody thinks they can make money through blackmail but well, I have been there before, what has not been said?”
This was Kayanja’s plea to Grade One magistrate Adams Byarugaba as the court sought to understand from Kayanja why the suspects and some of his fellow pastors have continuously since 2010 accused him of engaging in sodomy acts.
Kayanja termed the magistrates’ question as a ‘million dollar question’ explaining that in 2010 when the Buganda Road Court found pastors Solomon Male and others guilty of giving false information against him.
“They were sentenced to merely do some hours of community service compared to a would be heavier punishment had been found guilty of sodomy a thing that motivated others to tarnish his name again.”
Kayanja further explained that because of the linear sentence that was handed down in 2010, similar accusations resurfaced in 2013 when two men; Muwanguzi and Nsubuga were found guilty before the Mwanga II Court.
They were charged for giving false information and later were jailed by the Anti-corruption Court for attempting to bribe a Mulago Hospital Doctor to falsify sodomy medical examinations.
Pastor Kayanja made it clear that Enough is Enough and called upon court to give his accusers a punishment that will send out a strong warning to other people who would want to black mail him.
Kayanja was called to testify against a group of a group of nine former youths who allegedly trespassed at his church and gave false information to police tha he had sodomized them.
In his testimony, last week, Pastor Kayanja told court that he met the gang during his revival dumbed 77 DOGs in 2017 when they were among the people that came to turn their lives to Jesus.
Pastor Kayanja was tasked by the accused’s lawyer to prove how he got to know that the suspects belonged to a notorious group labeled “Kifesi”.
In response, the pastor played a 2017 video clip of his revival crusade ( 77 DOGS) before court where he managed to identify the suspects as those who had come to turn their lives around.
“We helped them to get a better life away from criminality but it was a matter of time as their true colours came out when they were workers at my farm in Kiryandogo.”
Pastor Kayanja added that they abandoned the farm which saw cows die, and crops rotting while they were busy terrorising people in the neighborhood.
Reagan Ssentongo and Khalifa Labeeb were found guilty of aggravated robbery and assault and are serving jail time in Kiryandogo Prison.
After his testimony, Chief State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya closed his case and asked that each of the nine suspects be out on their defence.
However the suspects’ lawyers asked for time from court to file written submissions asking for their client’s acquittal hence the case being adjourned to the November 8, 2024 for mention.
