The defence in the ongoing trial involving nine young men linked to allegations of bum shafting, against Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral senior pastor Robert Kayanja intensified on Thursday after one of the accused, Reagan Ssentongo, 21, stood by his claim that Chief State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya visited him and fellow accused Khalifa Labeeb at Murchison Bay in Luzira Prison in 2023, before the hearing of their ongoing case and allegedly told them to write an additional statement saying they had been influenced by other city pastors to say they had been sodomized by Kayanja.
Ssentongo reaffirmed the claim during cross-examination by Muwaganya before Mwanga II Chief Magistrate Adams Byarugaba at Mengo, insisting that the same Muwaganya had met them while they were serving a sentence of five years on charges he claimed had been fabricated by Kayanja, using his influence in the police, and the courts of law.
Ssentongo said Muwaganya had encouraged them to say that several Kampala pastors had influenced them to accuse Pastor Kayanja, and that he would then help them walk free, an offer they declained..
Muwaganya denied the allegation and asked court to obtain CCTV footage from Murchison Bay Prison to establish whether he ever visited the accused while they were incarcerated, a request Magistrate Byarugaba granted, and ordered that the prison footage be produced before court. The case was adjourned to July 16 for further hearing.
The latest development came as Ssentongo maintained a position he had earlier presented in his defence, in which he gave a detailed account of what he said happened after his arrest in 2021.
Ssentongo told court that he, Labeeb and others went to Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral to demand money which they claimed they had worked for, together with other payments they said had been promised to them by Kayanja after allegedly sodomizing them.
He testified that after their arrest, they were taken to Old Kampala Police Station, where they all spent days before they (him and Labeeb) were allegedly picked up at night by men dressed in civilian clothes, leaving the rest in Kampala.
According to Ssentongo, the men transported them to Kiryandongo Police Station, where they found police officers whom he already knew from his time working at Pastor Kayanja’s farm in Kiryandongo.
Ssentongo told court that he had worked closely with the officers during his time at the farm and that he had also undergone training at Kabarye Police Training School, which he said enabled him to relate with some of the officers as colleagues.
He testified that because of this background, he knew several of the officers at the station and was familiar with them.
Ssentongo then told court that some officers allegedly informed him and Labeeb that they had instructions, from Pastor Kayanja, to ensure criminal cases were fabricated against them if they refused to change their account regarding the sodomy accusations against Kayanja.
According to his testimony, the officers allegedly wanted them to instead claim that they had been sent by other pastors including Jackson Ssenyonga of Christian Life Church, David Kiganda, Aloysius Bugingo and Pastor Male, to accuse Pastor Kayanja.
Ssentongo told court that the alleged intention was to make the matter appear as a disagreement among men of God but said he and Labeeb rejected that version.
He further testified that after they were transferred from Isimba Prison to Murchison Bay Prison, they were unaware that other cases had allegedly been filed against them.
According to Ssentongo, they only learnt about the additional cases after the alleged visit by Muwaganya at the prison. He told court that Muwaganya introduced himself as a lawyer who had come to help them secure their acquittal.
Ssentongo alleged that the state attorney advised them to tell court that they had been influenced by the same pastors he had mentioned to accuse Pastor Kayanja, claiming that doing so would lead to their release and shift attention to those pastors, an advice he testified that they both rejected.
Ssentongo also told court that he was later shocked when the hearing of the case began at the Mengo court and he saw Muwaganya appearing as the prosecutor after the alleged prison encounter.
He also told court that during the alleged prison meeting, they learnt for the first time that additional charges, including allegations related to defamation, had been registered against them.
During cross-examination on Thursday, Ssentongo maintained that his account was true.
Muwaganya challenged the claims and sought the prison CCTV footage as evidence to determine whether the alleged meeting occurred.
The nine accused persons are facing charges arising from events connected to sodomy accusations previously made against Kayanja, charges they deny and they are still presenting their defence before court.
The competing claims remain before court, which is yet to make a determination on the evidence presented by either side.
