Kanungu Magistrate's court has fined Nelson Kagote Twinamatsiko, the manager of Kanungu FM Shs 200,000 after pleading guilty to assaulting a fellow employee and radio presenter Anita Tumuramye.
The incident occurred on January 26 at the radio premises. The radio belongs to Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the minister for Information Communication Technology and National Guidance, and Kinkiizi East Constituency MP.
The prosecution told court that Twinamatsiko assaulted Tumuramye when she demanded her commission off a school advert worth Shs 200,000 that she'd brought to the radio station. For the advert, Tumuramye was duly entitled to a 20 per cent commission (Shs 40,000) in line with the station's guidelines.
When Tumuramye tried to inquire from Twinamatsiko about the commission, he instead slapped her on the face which made her bleed from the nose.
Twinamatsiko further continued to drag Tumuramye to the ground. He was later arrested and paraded before the court on February 2 and was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to 236 of The Penal Code Act. Asked to take a plea he pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded.
But re-appearing before the same court today Wednesday afternoon, Twinamatsiko made a u-turn and pleaded guilty to the charges. In his ruling, Asanansio Mukobi, the Kanungu grade one magistrate ordered Twinamatsiko to pay Shs 200,000 as a fine or serve an 8-month sentence in prison. Twinamatsiko opted to pay the fine. Mukobi also advised that since the two are workmates, they must reconcile.
Tumuramye later told our reporter that she has no personal vendetta against Twinamatsiko, and has no problem with reconciliation. - URN/The Observer
