By Aggrey Baba
Fresh details have emerged from the testimony of 24-year-old Martin Kagolo, one of the nine young men accusing Pastor Robert Kayanja of sexual abuse and manipulation.
While appearing before Muwanga II Magistrate’s Court recently, Kagolo gave a lengthy testimony not only detailing how he was allegedly sodomized by the city pastor but also revealing how they were sent to guard the pastor’s properties in different places, where they were instructed to use violence.
Kagolo said that in 2019, they were taken to guard a farm owned by Pastor Kayanja in Kiryandongo. According to him, the pastor told them to shoot and kill any animal that entered the farm, whether it belonged to someone or not.
“There were many incidents where people’s animals entered the farm. Sometimes we had to chase villagers who came looking for their goats. One night, the pastor’s own cows escaped, went and destroyed someone’s crops, and we had to fire bullets in the air when to collect them,” Kagolo said.
He added that while they were there, they kept facing confrontations with the locals whose crops were often eaten or destroyed by Kayanja’s animals.
In the same testimony, Kagolo told court how Pastor Kayanja later took them to Masooli, his native village, to guard another piece of land where there was an ongoing dispute between him (kayanja) and residents.
“We were told to beat anyone who came near. There was a day we had a serious fight with the locals, and one of my colleagues was injured. I survived being hit by an arrow,” he said.
These new revelations were part of the same testimony Kagolo gave in court, that we published here, earlier, where he emotionally narrated how he was recruited into the church at the age of 16, promoted into the inner circle, and later sodomized by the man of God.
He said the first time he was sodomized was in the pastor’s office around 2 a.m, after he was called in by a colleague (Makyati Moses). Kagolo said the pastor first touched him, caressed him, before going to his washrooms, and then returned dressed in blue shorts before sodomizing him.
The following morning, he said he received an envelope with money and promises of more support, including a car and a foreign trip. But later, when they demanded what was promised, they were evicted from the house kayanja had rented for them, and later arrested.
Kagolo claims the accusations against them, that they gave false information against the pastor, are all meant to silence them.
Court was expected to resume hearing the case on Friday, May 9, but the session was postponed due to illness of the magistrate.
Stay tuned for more details. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
