{"id":9379,"date":"2021-04-30T18:27:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T18:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=9379"},"modified":"2021-04-30T17:16:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T17:16:58","slug":"court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him","title":{"rendered":"Court acquits minister Rukutana of charges against him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Court in Ntungamo District has acquitted State Minister for Labour and Industrial Development Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana of all seven charges he has been battling with since September last year.<\/p>\n

Mr Gordon Muhimbise, the Ntungamo Chief Magistrate on Friday trashed the charges against Mr Rukutana noting that they were only meant to malign him (Rukutana).<\/p>\n

\u201cProsecution evidence did not corroborate. No reasonable tribunal or court could convict a person basing on such evidence. It was also greatly discredited during cross-examination. On the other hand, I find the defence evidence very consistent and well corroborated. I, therefore, find the accused (Mr Rukutana) not guilty of any of the charges against him and do hereby acquit him,\u201d he ruled.<\/p>\n

Mr Rukutana was charged with four counts of threatening violence, one count of attempted murder, one count of assault causing actual bodily harm, and one count of malicious damage.<\/p>\n

Prosecution contended that he committed the offences on September 5, 2020 at Kagugu against agents of his close opponent in the NRM primary elections Ms Naome Kabasharira.<\/p>\n

Following a delayed election for the NRM primaries, violence ensued at Kagugu near the home of Mr Rukutana where he allegedly pulled out his gun and threatened to shoot at six occupants of a Toyota RAV 4.<\/p>\n

Mr Rukutana was charged with attempting murder, threatening violence and assault on Mr Dan Rweiburingi Kiriyo. He was also accused of malicious damage to a vehicle belonging to Mr Moses Muhumuza, assaulting him too. Other charges included threatening violence on Mr Justus Niwamanya, Stuart Kamukama, and Mr Juma Kahitana whom he also allegedly assaulted.<\/p>\n

Prosecution contended that Mr Rukutana used the gun butt to destroy the windscreens of the vehicle, hitting Mr Rweiburingi on the head while his supporters beat up the rest of the occupants with sticks and stones.<\/p>\n

On the first charge of attempted murder, Mr Muhimbise said could not stand since no one adduced evidence in court pinning Mr Rukutana of using the gun or his hands on Mr Dan Rweiburingi as all the witnesses\u2019 evidence did not substantiate, and himself never appeared before court to testify.<\/p>\n

In a video that went viral on social media then, Rukutana is seen pulling a gun from his bodyguard and pointing it to the occupants of a vehicle. However the video evidence was dismissed by the court on ruling that it was not an original video recorded by the said Mr Juma Kahitana who claimed to have recorded it using his phone.<\/p>\n

Following the verdict, Mr Rukutana said he was thankful to God for delivering him from the mudslinging and maligning case that was intended to tarnish his name.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy opponents thought court was like a campaign rally where they could go and speak that Rukutana wanted to kill us without evidence and they go away with it, this was different. I thank God that this has come to a conclusion. I lost the election but I am thankful we have now been acquitted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Caleb Alaka, one of the lawyers who represented Mr Rukutana, said they are going to sue the attorney general for maliciously prosecuting their client.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are maliciously prosecuted, the person who maliciously prosecuted you must pay. The police investigations in this matter were so weak, the prosecution presented a case that was so impotent that nobody could have been convicted. That kind of prosecution is malicious. We are going to file the case for false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and I want to assure you, the Attorney General is going to pay. This case was a total fabrication,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Court in Ntungamo District has acquitted State Minister for Labour and Industrial Development Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana of all seven charges he has been battling with since September last year. Mr Gordon Muhimbise, the Ntungamo Chief Magistrate on Friday trashed the charges against Mr Rukutana noting that they were only meant to malign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-9379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt acquits minister Rukutana of charges against him - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Court in Ntungamo District has acquitted State Minister for Labour and Industrial Development Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana of al ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court acquits minister Rukutana of charges against him\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Court in Ntungamo District has acquitted State Minister for Labour and Industrial Development Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana of al ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-30T18:27:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/04\/img-608c3b71689c6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Court acquits minister Rukutana of charges against him\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-30T18:27:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him\"},\"wordCount\":604,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/04\/img-608c3b71689c6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/court-acquits-minister-rukutana-of-charges-against-him\",\"name\":\"Court acquits minister Rukutana of charges against him - 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