C. Kiwawulo, H. Ssempogo and C. Businge
12 December 2008
ARUA Municipality MP Hussein Akbar Godi was yesterday charged with murder at Mukono court and remanded to Luzira Prison.
Mukono chief magistrate Tom Chemutai, however, did not allow Godi to plead to the charges as his court does not have the jurisdiction to handle the case.
"You can only apply for bail in the High Court," Chemutai advised the MP during a five-minute court session that started at 5:05pm.
None of Godi's lawyers attended the session.
Mukono chief magistrate's court clerical officer Beatrice Bacia read the charge sheet for Godi in English and translated it into Lugbara at his request.
"On the 4th and 5th days of December 2008, honourable Godi you murdered Rehema at Lugojja in Mukono district contrary to section 188 and 189 of the Penal Code Act. Do you understand the charges?" Bacia asked.
Godi, 26, said he understood the charges but when he tried to enter a plea, Chemutai told him that his court had no powers to hear the case.
The magistrate remanded the MP until December 30 when his case will come up for mention.
Godi, who was dressed in a checkered maroon shirt, a pair of jeans and red slippers, remained calm throughout the court session.
The double cabin pick-up truck that transported Godi from the Central Police Station (CPS) in Kampala sped to Mukono and later to Luzira.
Sirens and flickering lights on the two Police trucks that escorted the MP turned heads on the way to and from Mukono.
Godi's brother, Ismail Godi, followed the Police trucks on boda boda from Kampala to Mukono and from Mukono to Luzira.
He said he wanted to ascertain that his brother had really been taken to Luzira.
Before he was driven to Mukono, Godi was questioned by detectives at CPS for close to four hours, over his wife's murder.
A detective led him out of the cells in the station's basement at about 12:00pm to the second floor where Godi met a team of detectives, among them homicide chief, Paul Kato.
Godi's lawyer and colleague in Parliament, Abdu Katuntu joined him about 20 minutes later and left at 1:30pm.
Katuntu told journalists that his client had resisted being paraded by the police before witnesses, a procedure described as the identification parade.
At the identification parade, witnesses point out a person they saw participating in a crime. It is a crucial exercise in evidence collection.
"He argued that it would be useless since his picture had been published several times in the print media," Katuntu stated.
Godi recorded a statement up to 3:40pm when he was led back to the cells before he was whisked to Mukono.
Earlier, Gulu district LC5 chiarman Nobert Mao and MPs Beatrice Anywar, Joseph Balikudembe, Sam Njuba and the opposition chief whip, Kassiano Wadri, had visited Godi.
Anywar left the station and returned a few minutes later with a black polyethylene bag that contained two silver packs of food for Godi.
Godi's friends and relatives, among them a niece, Hanim Siraj and sister-in-law, Night Siraj, pitched camp at the station.
After he turned himself in on Thursday, Godi did not immediately record a statement as is the practice.
Instead, the police searched his vehicle, a blue Toyota Rav4 and his home in Bwebajja on the Kampala-Entebbe highway before he was detained at CPS until yesterday.
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