Rev Isaac Mwesigwa, an Anglican cleric who last week went missing only to resurface in Soroti was last week arrested and charged for faking own kidnap.
Rev Mwesigwa appeared at Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s court last Friday and was charged with giving false information to a public officer.
He was arrested by CID officers in Kampala after police obtained CCTV footage showing that he had exited his car without any attack from anyone, contrary to what he had told police earlier.
He told police that he was kidnapped by armed men on his way to deliver his research work at Uganda Christian University (UCU), Mukono.
In court, Rev. Mwesigwa denied the charges and asked to be released on bail.
The presiding chief magistrate, Ms Ruth Babasa, granted him Shs1 million cash bail while his three sureties were each bonded Shs5m not cash.
However, according to Campus Bee news website, Rev. Mwesigwa allegedly did all this to get out of doing an assignment at the university that was scheduled to be handed in the next day just after his kidnap.
How Rev Mwesigwa’s statement contradicted with police findings:
In his statement, Rev Mwesigwa said that by 8am on Sunday he was still in Kyebando, a Kampala suburb yet the footage from Police’s CCTV cameras shows that by 6pm, the priest’s car was already in Naalya.
He also said that when he reached Sonde, Mukono, he was stopped by three armed men who were travelling in a yet to be identified car. However, the Police CCTV cameras in the area show no car which Mwesigwa is talking about.
The CCTV camera footage also shows no armed men, it only shows Mwesigwa parking, moving out of the car and talking on phone with ease.
The priest further said in the statement that he was kidnapped in Sonde near City Executive Hotel but the cameras show Mwesigwa boarding a boda boda which took him to the direction of Seeta.
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