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BETWEEN THE LINES: Stella Nankunda ordered for detention of Michael Kaluusi and Richard Mwesigwa for Fourteen hours which was a violation of the court officers’ right.
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Court in Iganga district has ordered a senior Police officer to pay sh40m to two court officers for illegally detaining them when they went to serve court documents to Sulaina Logose, a businesswoman.
Michael Kaluusi and Richard Mwesigwa were assaulted by Logose and later detained under the directive of Stella Nankunda, the officer-in-charge of criminal investigations at Namutumba Police Station. Logose is battling a land case with another businesswoman identified as Olive Nansubuga.
In a ruling dated May 15, 2024, Chief Magistrate Daniel Epobu Kiboko said Nankunda is liable for infringing on the court officers’ right to personal liberty and to practice their profession.
“A temporary injunction is hereby issued against the Police officer from continued violation of the court officers’ right,” Kiboko directed.
Accordingly, the magistrate ordered the police officer to pay the court officers sh40m in compensation. He directed that the amount will attract an interest rate of 10%from the date of the ruling until payment in full.
Kiboko also directed that the Police officer to make a written apology to the court officers for violating their rights within 30 days.
He observed that the court officers were without just cause detained for five hours at Namutumba Police Station which caused them mental and psychological torture.
“The applicants were detained at Namutumba Police Station by the police officer and were prevented from leaving the place to go and execute other duties elsewhere as officers of court,” Kiboko noted.
The magistrate said the Police officer acted with gross impunity towards the applicants.
“This kind of excesses by people in authority towards citizens to whom they are accountable should be condemned at all costs,” he stressed.
Kiboko observed that the Police officer’s act of detaining the applicants was uncalled for.
“The applicants identified themselves to the Police officer as court process servers, but it fell on her deaf ears. Even if the Police officer had doubts over the identity of the applicants, she would have verified the same through the various electronic means from their entity rather than confining them,” he said.
The magistrate delivered the ruling in the presence of Derrick Matende, the lawyer who was holding brief for Steven Kalali, who represented the petitioners and Brenda Igune, who represented the Police officer.
Background
In march, 2024, the court officers filed a suit against the Police officer, alleging a violation of their rights.
They said that in the process of effecting service of court documents to Logose, they were assaulted, prompting them to proceed to Namutumba Police Station to report a case of assault.
“Despite being victims of crime, Nankunda instead without justification ordered for our confinement,” Kaluusi said.
The applicants said that they were detained for five hours (2:00pm to 7:00pm) at the police station under the directives of Nankunda.
According to the court officers, Nankunda directed that they are set free, on condition that they do not follow up their case at the Police station.
Kaluusi stated that while at the Police station, they pleaded with Nankunda to know why they had been arrested, in vain.
“We tried to plead with Nankunda and informed her that we were public servants/process servers who had only effected service of court process on one Logose but the police boss instead ordered us to sit down,” he narrated.
They claim that Logose told them that the assault case reported against her would not see the light of the day.
