The Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson Patrick Onyango has exclusively confirmed to this website the arrest of Herbert Arinaitwe a Kampala International University Law student on the allegation of illegally photographing the judge of the High Court
Arinaitwe according to sources was arrested on Thursday last week when he was attending the criminal proceeding before Justice professor Andrew Khaukha of the Criminal Division of the High Court
“You know those law students always come here to follow the proceedings of court, partly to learn. Now, when the judge ordered the assessors to take oath before a criminal matter before him could proceed, that young man started filming and taking photos of the assessors. When the judge saw him, he turned furious and asked him who gave him the permission to take pictures in his court,” a source who was present in Court said
He added that Arinaitwe pleaded forgiveness explaining to the judge that he was taking the photos to help him and other law student in their group discussions.
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However, the judge was very furious and directed his bodyguard and other policemen in the court to arrest the young lawyer
He immediately halted the proceedings of the matter he was hearing and ordered policemen to bring the young lawyer to his chambers where he was grilled.
After a long hour of interrogation, it was established that Arinaitwe had a criminal record and one time was charged and remanded to Upper prison Luzira.
The judge through his security contacts established that Arinaitwe was previously charged with aggravated robbery and demanding property with menace and intent to steal from leaked nude photographs of city Socialite Martha Kagimba commonly known as Martha K.
The record given to the judge indicated that on April 11, 2019 in Kampala, Arinaitwe robbed Kagimba of two mobile phones, a Samsung Galaxy and an iPhone, both valued at Six Million Shillings.
He reportedly also stole the victim’s money purse containing an ATM card, driving permit, and 400,000 Shillings.
It is alleged that before the robbery, Arinaitwe used the drug scopolamine (commonly known as devil’s breath) on Martha making her lose her consciousness.
The drug is used to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by motion sickness. The drug overdose puts people into a zombie-like state in which they lose both their memory and free will and can be convinced to empty their bank accounts or hand over the keys to their apartments and cars.
“Upon arrival, Arinaitwe showed the complainant (Kagimba) pictures of naked ladies on his phone and proposed that she sleeps with an unknown rich man for 10 million Uganda Shillings. Arinaitwe then offered her a soft drink and she began feeling dizzy. She walked to her car and lost consciousness,” reads the case summary.
Prosecution adds that Martha K gained consciousness and found herself lying naked in a hotel room along Entebbe Road with her property missing.
Arinaitwe was arrested on July 11 2019 by security operatives, charged, and remanded to Luzira Upper Prison but it was discovered that the suspect was exonerated by Criminal Division of the High Court judge Isaac Muwata and set free after proving that the criminal charges resulted from their personal misunderstanding resulting from their relationship.
According to Onyango, the investigations into the matter are ongoing and the suspect is accused with offences related to obtaining personal data without authorisation and his criminal file has already been forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for sanctioning so that the suspect is taken to Court.
Sources close to the judge told this website that since the judge dismissed the bail application where National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters who were facing treason charges in the military court, he is scared of his security.
“ You know very well how he was attacked on social media because of his decision, there is a thinking that there was invisible hand behind that man’s actions of taking his photos so that they can be used against him, because he has that record of using people’s photos to harasses them to get money,” a source said
This website understands that Arinaitwe was directed to write an apology to the judge explaining why he was taking his photos and assuring him never to do it again and his relatives and friends are waiting for the judge’s response
“Apologising is the only option for him to survive jail otherwise his contacts in the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) a political civic group chaired by Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba are not ready to intervene and save him,” a friend to Arinaitwe told this website.
