Staff
The courtroom murmured in shock on numerous occasions as Alex Wakamala, one of the suspects in the Pastor Kayanja case, shot himself in the foot.
Wakamala, who had testified under oath, crumbled in the dock under a barrage of questions during re-cross-examination by the defense team. It should be recalled that the defense asked the court to re-cross-examine him after he had faltered during the cross examination by the prosecution
Despite being prepared to stand and rectify his contradictory submissions, he put up a poor showing, which prompted his lawyers, Davis Wesley Tusingwire and Bernard Mugenyi, to cut short the session at Mwanga II Court.
When asked to clarify how he obtained and saved the numbers: 0704424592 (saved as Wasswa), 0752949364 (saved as Pastor Ssenyonga), and 0755962117 (saved as Chairman) in his contacts, he gave yet another different answer.
It should be recalled that during his cross examination, Wakamala had said his wife obtained the above-mentioned numbers. This was after the phone matrix exposed the connection and calls made between the said parties.
This morning, he gave a different submission: “I wrote down the numbers during the trials as they were being read out loud,” Wakamala told the court, adding, “I had even forgotten that they were in my contacts.
Actually, your Honour, the question of Israel Wasswa instructing me to do any mischief is not true. I only met Wasswa in court, and it’s the reason I saved their numbers—to ask them why I was part of their case.”
At this moment, the defense’s attempt to rectify the messed-up testimony in cross-examination took a wrong turn, and they opted to ask for more time to prepare the other two witnesses before they entered the dock.
It should also be recalled that a phone matrix presented in court by D/ASP Bill Ndyamuhaki from the Cybercrime Department of the police revealed that Aggrey Kinene, a personal assistant to Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga, had frequently called the youths, especially Reagan Ssentongo.
This phone matrix was submitted in court under oath, unlike the suspects who refused to testify under oath, seemingly because they had something to hide or feared being exposed by cross-examination.
“Your Honour, accept our prayer to have more time and prepare our next two witnesses, Reagan Ssentongo and Peter Serugo, who were scheduled to be in the dock tomorrow morning,” defense lawyer Davis Wesley Tusingwire prayed.
This request came shortly after Wakamala’s co-accused, Israel Wasswa, had defended himself against the charges before the court, but not under oath. The room burst out in laughter when Grade One Magistrate Adams Byarugaba asked him if he wanted to change his mind and testify under oath.
Isreal Wasswa is an ex convict who spent two and half years in prison for aggravated assault and robbery.
Chief State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya argued that the defense team was simply buying time. “My lord, they have had time since December last year. Their colleague Labib has witnessed, yet they claim these two are not ready despite all of them being on remand under the same circumstances.”
At this point, both parties had to wait for a verdict from the magistrate, who explained his decision before letting the courtroom know why he had ruled in favor of the defense team.
“I have heard the concerns from both sides, and I appreciate the need to end this trial early enough, but I do acknowledge that the accused need time to prepare by law. So we meet again on October 23, 2025, in the morning.”
Wakamala’s co-accused are Regan Ssentongo, Peter Serugo, Israel Waiswa, Jamil Mwandha, Aggrey Kinene, Martins Kagolo, and Moses Tumwine, who is currently at large are slowly running out of time to walk out of this case in which they are accused of orchestrating a plot to frame Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral in a sodomy scandal.
Furthermore, Dr. Sam Kalungi, to whom the suspects were taken for examination on Pastor Ssenyonga’s orders, testified in court that he found no signs that the youths had been sodomized, which contradicted their claims.
