It was an intense moment yesterday during the trial of Makerere University researcher Dr Stella Nyanzi when prosecutor Janat Kitimbo asked Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Bill Ndyamuhaki, the first witness in the stand to explain the meaning of Nyanzi’s poem.
The said poem was allegedly posted on Stella Nyanzi’s Facebook page on September 16, 2018, the same day President Museveni was celebrating his 74th birthday. According to the witnesses in the case, vulgarity targeted Museveni’s late mother Esteri Kokundeka, and repeatedly wishing that Museveni should have died at the time of his birth.
During the trial, Kitimbo asked Ndyamuhaki explain the meaning of the poem after he read it out loud in court. According to Ndyamuhaki, the use of words such as vaginas, smelly and creamy p***y, were too offensive to any sound person.
The formerly calm situation during a proceeding presided over by Grade One magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu immediately changed from calm to commotion as Ndyamuhaki read the poem word-per-word, amid laughter from the crowd.
Ndyamuhaki, who was trained in cybercrime investigation by America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), told the court that he became Stella Nyanzi’s Facebook follower in 2017 when he was assigned by the director of criminal investigations to investigate Nyanzi’s case.
The skilled Ndyamuhaki also told court that he looked at the phone number used to create the account and found out that it was an MTN number whose digits ended with 17 as well as linking the poem publisher to an email ‘snyanzi@yahoo.com’.
However, Nyanzi’s lawyer Isaac Semakadde protested that the exhibits were never disclosed to the defence team. The case was later adjourned to April 9 as the Makerere researcher is accused of offensive communication and cyber harassment
