Wakiso, 11th/July/2012; Court has renewed orders for the arrest of two men accused of assaulting a Vision Group journalist Rebecca Nakame.
Katongole Issa, 26 and Mutagubya Jamil, 38 were supposed to appear in court on this day after the Entebe Court Grade II Magistrate Nassimolo ordered for their arrest when they failed to heed criminal summons to face trial. The two are jointly accused with Ddungu Erias of assaulting the Bukedde Television journalist.
Prosecution alleges that on 20th/April/2012, the trio , at Bweya village, Ssissa sub-county in Wakiso district assaulted Nakame occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to section 236 of The Penal Code Act and destroyed her property –a video camera which they also confiscated.
Nakame was attacked by a mob on the orders of one Hakaya Luswa a special police constable attached to Kajjansi police station. She had been invited to cover a news story about a family land wrangle, but was attacked by some family members before she started filming the story. Luswa was however excluded from the case file for unknown reasons. He is a police officer attached to Kajjansi Police Station.
Nakame told Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) that she was kicked, slapped, pushed and her hair pulled as she pleaded for mercy before being saved by a local council official. She sustained bruises and severe back pain.
The matter has been adjourned to 14th August 2012 and the said warrant of arrest extended to the same date when all the suspects are expected to appear.
“We hope that the police will take due diligence in the search for the said culprits. They should be brought to court to face the law and it’s our prayer that justice is seen to be done. We also want the police to include Luswa on the file for his role in setting the group against the journalist.” Said HRNJ-Uganda Programme Coordinator, Wokulira Ssebaggala
