Teary journalist testifies against policeman

Kampala- “I am not sure whether I will be able to walk again without the help of crutches or even go back to work,” a journalist testified in the trial in which a police officer, Mr Joram Mwesigye, is charged with brutally assaulting him.

Appearing before Buganda Road magistrate Sanyu Mukasa last Wednesday, Mr Andrew Lwanga, a journalist working with WBS Television, said he had his entire body subjected to scan and the doctors found that his spine was bent and its bones had separated.

“Despite getting treatment from Nsambya hospital, I am still in great pain. Your worship, I cannot sleep, sit or move without a cloth tightly wrapped around my waist,” Mr Lwanga said with tears rolling down his cheeks.

He said: “The injuries I sustained have rendered me helpless; my child has not gone back to school and I cannot pay my rent because I have since stopped working.”

Mr Lwanga added that he was to undergo a surgery for repair of his spine which was compressed, however, the doctors put the surgery on halt to see if his health can improve with medicines alone because the surgery is complex.
Ms Mukasa adjourned the matter to March 30 for further hearing.

Mr Mwesigye was last month charged with assault and occasioning bodily harm and malicious damage of property.

The charges
Prosecution states that on January 12, at Florida Bar and Guest House on Namirembe Road in Kampala, Mr Mwesigye assaulted Mr Lwanga.
It is also stated that on the same day along Shell fuel station in Bakuli, a city suburb, the suspect maliciously damaged two video cameras belonging to Mr Lwanga.

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