KAMPALA – A cyber-crime investigator attached to police CID department, Mr. Bill Ndyamuhaki, has told court Wednesday, March 20, that he has been following the Makerere University research fellow Dr. Stellah Nyanzi on Facebook since 2017.
Mr. Ndyamuhaki who appeared in court as the first state witness in the case in which Ms. Nyanzi is facing charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication against the person of President Museveni and that of his late mother Esteri Kokundeka, said he started following Ms. Nyanzi after she was charged before court for allegedly referring to the President as a ‘pair of buttocks’.
Mr. Ndyamuhaki testified that when this case file came up at his department, his boss the OC CID allocated it to him for further investigation.
“I first secured a court order to access the privacy of Nyanzi and managed to use her MTN phone number to gain access to her official Facebook account where I extracted the contentious messages,” Mr Ndyamuhaki testified.
However, Mr. Ndyamuhaki was also made to read out in court the alleged obscene messages posted by Ms. Nyanzi and asked to explain why he concludes that they are offensive.
In reply to the defence lawyer’s request, Mr. Ndyamuhaki replied that the words come-off in a sexual way because Ms. Nyanzi mentions words relating to sexual parts such as the vagina, which would be offensive to any reasonable person in society.
His testimony was cut short after Ms. Nyanzi’s lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde objected to prosecution’s tendering in as exhibits the print screens of the extracted messages and an MTN registration form which confirmed to him that the Facebook page belonged to Ms. Nyanzi.
Mr. Ssemakadde questioned the authenticity of these documents saying they were never part of the earlier disclosed evidence from the prosecution.
Trial magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu concurred with Mr Ssemakadde and allowed him more time to study the documents so that he can ably cross-examine the witness.
The case has been adjourned to April 19, 2019, as Ms. Nyanzi goes back on remand at Luzira prison where she has so far spent five months.
According to prosecution, on September 16, 2018, at 4:08 pm, Ms. Nyanzi uploaded a Facebook message on her official Facebook page which was interpreted to annoy and disturb the peace of the President.
