KAMPALA – Brian Isiko, 25 a student at YMCA Jinja branch has filed a memorandum of appeal to challenge his two year jail term handed to him by Buganda Road Magistrate’s court after expressing love for Ms Sylvia Rwabwogo, the Kabarole Woman Member of Parliament.
“The appellant named above appeals to the High Court against the decision of Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu a magistrate Grade One at Buganda Road Chief Magistrates’ court delivered on the 5 day of July, 2018,” reads in part the memorandum of appeal.
Through his lawyers Katuntu & Co. Advocates, Isiko claims that the magistrate erred in law and fact when she changed the appellant’s plea of not guilty to a plea of guilty based on a partial admission thus convicting him without subjecting the entire evidence of the complainant to the standard required in a criminal trial.
Isiko also accuses the magistrate of engaging in speculation, conjecture, malice and fear mongering in denying the appellant a proper mitigation while sentencing him.
The lawyers now want court to quash Isiko’s conviction and set aside his sentence or alternatively the custodial sentence be reduced and set aside and a small fine be imposed on him.
Last week Isiko was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment upon his own plea of guilty to charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication before Buganda Road Magistrate Ms Kamasanyu.
Isiko confessed that the calls and text messages professing passionate love to the MP he had never physically seen were from him.
“I have had the benefit to listen to both the complainant and the convict. He (Isiko) kept laughing all through the session, this is a demeanor of a person who is not remorseful. At some points the complainant broke down this kind of harassment can only be done by a selfish person and the intentions are only known to him,” Ms Kamasanyu ruled before sentencing him.
She sentenced him to two-years on the count of cyber harassment and to nine-months for offensive communication, sentence to run concurrently.
Ms Rwabwogo told court that she started getting these love messages and calls from a stranger a head of the controversial Constitution Amendment Bill that was passed in December to remove presidential age limits which made her think that someone wanted to hurt her.
Court heard that the MP received many calls and over 10 messages, one time her stalker texted asserting that he had failed to sleep at night just thinking about her and around the same time the wave of kidnaps were so rampant.
She said she set up an appointment to meet the stalker upon Police at Parliament assigning her a guard. The meeting was on June 11, 2018, they met at Java House, Lugogo a Kampala suburb and indeed the stalker showed up and from there he was arrested.
