By Mulengera Reporters
During the Friday 12th December session, Makindye-based Utilities Court Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu clarified and explained to two telecom engineers (Amdan Mukwaya and Charles Kasirye) who demanded that the state reciprocates their decision to plead guilty by letting them walk away just like that, without serving any prison term.
The two engineers were charged with trespass, tampering/vandalizing and stealing telecommunications equipment (worth Shs216m) belonging to American Tower Corporation (ATC). They are alleged to have committed the offences on 23rd March 2023. And they are being prosecuted by a team of lawyers from UCC, led by Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa, Nasim Kagawa and Kevin Bakulumpagi.
The three counts of the offence are created under sections 237(1) & 244 of the Penal Code Act and Section 282(a) of the Penal Code Act. Prosecution alleges that on 23rd March 2023, the duo along with a one Lawrence Letti (their friend), without permission, accessed the telecom tower (code no. 67060) at Bulaga hill Nakabugo village at Bira Buloba in Wakiso district, belonging to ATC.
While there, they willfully and unlawfully damaged the equipment sheltering the tower and gained access to ATC’s 16 lithium batteries (valued at Shs216m), which they stole and took away without any lawful claim of right. This constituted the offences of criminal trespass, vandalism and theft for which they have been on trial for now two years.
For much of this year, state prosecutors from UCC have been bringing and leading witnesses who have given overwhelming evidence against the accused persons.
Recently things became even more complicated when their co-accused Lawrence Letti cracked and offered to corroborate earlier evidence illustrating the circumstances under which the batteries were stolen.
He indicated he was ready to testify and give evidence to Court shedding light on how the batteries were transported in Nissan Terrano vehicle number UAQ 740U which is grey in colour-from Bulaga hill to a storage facility somewhere in Mengo. He says he travelled with the two engineers in the Nissan Terrano that day and shared the vehicle’s back seat with the 16 lithium batteries.
Letti all of a sudden became jittery after, for unknown reasons, the two engineers got the defense lawyer Malik Mboowa for themselves and left him in the cold. He is unrepresented, which naturally complicates everything for him as he has to be his own lawyer.
Besides Letti, whose willingness to testify against co-accused was welcomed by prosecution, the man from whom the Nissan Terrano (currently parked in the Court compound) was hired also offered to testify and give evidence implicating the two engineers on behalf of UCC. This made the accused persons’ already bad case even worse. Its against this background that the duo cracked and entered a plea-bargaining agreement with UCC.
However, during the Friday session, after going on record pleading guilty and being taken through everything (including being told how plea-bargaining means the accused persons have waved their right to be presumed innocent, to be put to full trial & to be able to cross examine witness besides defending themselves if asked to), the two engineers made a U-turn saying they would only accept the deal and sign onto the final draft if the state agrees to let them walk home instead of being sentenced to a three year jail term as was being demanded by prosecution.
UCC’s Dr. Waiswa, looking every inch disappointed, explained to Court the two parties had taken the preceding days consulting widely and agreeing on everything. He said he too was surprised the two engineers were turning against what they had agreed upon in consultation with their lawyer Malik Mboowa.
At this point, the Magistrate realized the extent to which the plea-bargain arrangement had always been misunderstood by not just Mukwaya and Kasirye but also by other accused persons, including those who were in Court waiting for their turn to take to the dock.
She, at lenght, explained that no one should ever be pushed or stampeded into pleading guilty under the plea-bargain arrangement.
It was explained that plea-bargaining was never introduced for the accused persons to walk away free and escape punishment, upon pleading guilty. It only shows the accused person has thought about their guilt and wants to plead guilty to save court’s time and their own time, plus the money that would be expended on defence lawyers. The accused person is also free to change his plea for as many times as they wish, during trial. It’s their right, Magistrate Kamasanyu explained.
There was concern among some of the people inside Court that the two engineers, to whom everything had fully been explained prior by their own Counsel Mboowa, would casually change their mind just like that.
As UCC’s Abdul Salaam Waiswa made it clear that, as prosecution, they are ready to make their case by bringing more witnesses (including the Nissan Terrano owner), the Magistrate clarified that the two engineers were free to choose either plea-bargaining or full trial. They are free to go think about it, in consultation with their Counsel, and communicate their decision to Court at the subsequent session.
It was explained that nobody can take away the two engineers’ right to choose plea-bargain if they feel they committed the offence and want to plead guilty. Equally true, no one can or should compel them to plead guilty if they feel they are innocent and didn’t commit the offence, in which case the trial can continue.
Whereas the UCC prosecutors were prepared to accept a prison sentence of 36 months (basically three years) as the bare minimum under the plea-bargaining deal, the final word on the length of the sentence always rests with the Magistrate. For that is what is dictated both by the law and practice.
Family members present at Court on Friday and the defence Counsel Mboowa indicated readiness to use the time between now and the next Court session to engage with the two accused persons and find common ground.
The UCC lawyers, who are determined to secure a conviction as part of the Commission’s broader efforts to make telecom vandalism risky, indicated that they are more than ready to continue bringing and leading more witnesses to adduce more evidence implicating the two accused persons as Letti prepares to give evidence for the prosecution once his plea-bargaining processing is concluded. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
