The defence in Pastor Robert Kayanja’s long-running Bisiyaga case has accused the Kayanja side of influencing a key witness to stay away from court, a claim that emerged as the defence closed its evidence and brought the hearing of witnesses to an end.
The development came on Wednesday before Mwanga II Magistrate’s Court in Mengo, where a defence lawyer from Ojambo & Ojambo advocates told Magistrate Adams Byarugaba that the defence had lost trust in a witness it had been trying to secure for the case.
According to the defence, repeated attempts to contact the witness failed, with the witness not responding to calls. The lawyer said the situation became more suspicious after Fatima Mbabazi, a business liaison officer attached to Makerere College of Education’s department of languages, was approached over the translation evidence that had become an important point of contention in the case.
Counsel Bernard told court that the defence discovered that Fatima was not at Makerere when the translation was made. She had neither authored nor participated in the translation process and was not the official custodian of the documents.
The defence said Fatima nevertheless attempted to contact the original witness in the presence of the lawyers, but he again failed to respond.
It was against this background that the defence lawyer told court that their side had become suspicious that the witness could have been influenced and was deliberately staying away. The allegation has not been proved before court, but it gave the defence a fresh basis to abandon the witness rather than continue pursuing evidence from someone it no longer trusted.
“We no longer have faith in that witness and we do not trust him to be truthful,” the defence told court.
The defence further said it had also tried to obtain a fresh translation through Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, hoping that UBC officials would cooperate and appear as witnesses, but that effort did not succeed.
With the witness now out of the picture, the defence told court that it had consulted its clients and decided to close its case, maintaining that the evidence already placed before court was substantial enough for the matter to proceed to the next stage.
The move means the evidentiary hearing is now effectively over. No more defence witnesses are expected to take the stand unless the court orders otherwise.
The case now moves into the submissions stage, where the lawyers will argue what the evidence on record proves and whether the prosecution has established its case to the required legal standard.
The prosecution, led by Jonathan Muwaganya, did not oppose the closure of the defence case. He said the defence was entitled to decide whether to continue with its witness and acknowledged that if the defence had lost interest in the witness, that was a matter for the defence.
However, the prosecution pushed for a shorter period for written submissions, saying the trial had already taken too long and should now be brought to an end.
The defence asked for one month to prepare its submissions, explaining that the case involved more than one lawyer and that the legal team needed adequate time to study the evidence and prepare its final arguments.
The defence also maintained that it had made previous efforts to address the disputed recordings and translation material but had faced difficulties in getting the relevant institutions to cooperate.
The dispute over the recordings had earlier seen the defence tell court that it struggled to obtain corrected audio and video material from UBC, saying they first requested the material on April 4, 2026, followed up on September 10, and eventually received the corrected recordings on September 30 after making the required payment.
The prosecution had opposed the defence attempt to introduce another witness at that stage, arguing that the relevant material had already been provided to the State and translated through Makerere University.
The defence, however, continued to question aspects of the translation process and the availability of those who could properly account for it.
Magistrate Adams Byarugaba adjourned the matter to December 9, 2026, when the parties are expected to proceed with the next stage towards final determination of the case.
