“I didn’t knock Seeta traffic officer, facts have been twisted”- Judge says

The Mbale High Court judge accused of knocking Seeta traffic police officer has denied the accusations saying facts have been twisted.

 Police Constable Innocent Ayesigye   attached to Seeta Police station was allegedly  knocked by  a Toyota Rav4 registration number UAS 597U as he rode a police motorcycle at Namanve along the Kampala- Jinja highway on Sunday.

He suffered broken legs and arms but later succumbed to the accident injuries on Tuesday morning at Rubaga hospital where he had been rushed after the incident but Police later said that it was Justice Byaruhanga Jesse Rugyema behind the wheels of the car that knocked Ayesigye.

However, in his defence to the Chief Justice, the High Court judge denied the accusations saying that as he drove behind the traffic officer’s motorcycle, an incoming vehicle from Mukono side hit the officer.

“I saw an incoming motor vehicle from Mukono side being driven at a very high speed knock the traffic officer who was on the motorcycle. I was behind the traffic officer at a distance of about 100 metres and therefore in a position to clearly see the incident. The traffic officer appeared to had tried to dodge a rough part of the road on his side and collided with a high speeding vehicle that had also left its part of the lane for reasons not known to me,” the judge says in his letter to the Chief Justice.

“Upon collision, I saw a dust of glasses and fragments filling the atmosphere and the motorcycle flew to my vehicle, on the driver’s side and scratched the vehicle as it rolled passed me.”

Justice Byaruhanga however explained that he stopped to assess the condition of the traffic police officer who had been thrown into a ditch .

He adds that his bodyguard tried to pull the injured officer from the trench but failed on the mission.

“He(bodyguard) complained to me that the traffic officer got broken legs and that without gloves he could not do much.”

The High Court judge revealed that he sought assistance from a traffic police officer known to him to offer assistance.

“In the meantime, the onlookers who had gathered around were photographing my car imagining that it is the one that knocked the traffic officer.”

He says he rushed to Seeta and asked a traffic police officer and patrol vehicle to rush to the accident scene before he returned home.

Twisted facts

The judge said he was shocked to see twisted facts on social media attributed to police accusing him of knocking the traffic police officer.

He says on Tuesday, when he asked his driver and bodyguard to take the vehicle to police, and record a statement they were arrested.

“With this kind of development, I suspected foul play. It appeared to me that police of all institutions, wanted to take advantage of my position and malign us by embarrassing me.”

The judge said the judiciary is being maligned to condemn him instead of the driver of the Ford UBD 896E which he says knocked the traffic police officer.

“The judiciary should demand for an explanation why the Ford driver never stopped to offer help or to ascertain the life of the knocked traffic officer if his version of the incident is the correct one to be believed,” he says.

He also asked for a forensic examination of both vehicles and motorcycle to ascertain the truth behind the accident.