Court confirms charges against Kaweesi suspected killers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala has confirmed charges of terrorism, aggravated robbery and murder against eight people accused of murdering the former Police Spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

Kaweesi was shot dead on March 17th, 2017 together with his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver Godfrey Mambewa in Kulambiro Nakawa Division in Kampala District by unknown people who were mobbing on motorcycles. A pistol of his bodyguard was stolen.

Abdulrashid Mbaziira, Hamza Higenyi, Shafiq Kasujja, Yusuf Mugerwa, Bruhan Balyejjusa, Joshua Kyambadde, Jibril Kalyango, Yusuf Nyanzi and Shafiq Kasujja are the suspects.

Lady Justice Alice Komuhangi Khauka on Tuesday confirmed the said charges against the group including Shafique Kasujja who ran away from proceedings shortly after being granted bail. She also confirmed charges of aiding and abetting terrorism and belonging to a terrorist organization, the ADF against the accused persons.

The judge ruled that  the disclosed evidence by the Prosecution’s Chief State Attorneys Lillian Omara, Richard Birivumbuka, and Marion Ben Bella connects all the accused persons to the planning, organizing, Surveilling, and subsequent attack on and the murder of Kaweesi.

Although Justice Komuhangi observed that some of the suspects may not have been physically present at the scene of the crime, the fact that they were involved in the planning, organizing, or surveillance of the crime scene before the incident makes them equally culpable and principal offenders under section 19 of the Penal Code Act.

She added that they are culpable under the doctrine of common intentions and they did not disassociate themselves from each other and the crime.

According to the Judge, all the disclosed evidence further reveals that the attackers used actual violence and a deadly weapon that is a gun thereby causing the death of Corporal Kenneth Erau and there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accused persons are responsible for both the murder and the robbery. She further ruled that they all professed to be members of the ADF.

“Some had even been arrested before and given amnesty by the Amnesty Commission. They were recruited and trained from the ADG camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other places in East Africa. They returned to Uganda to carry out ADF operations and activities including recruitment of new members and mobilizing any other support for ADF,” said the Judge.

Komuhangi said the Prosecution also disclosed the evidence of the call data analysis which indicated that some of the accused persons were in touch with Baluku a commander in the ADF based in the DRC. That, according to the judge is sufficient reasonable ground to believe that they professed to belong to the terrorist organization. The Judge forwarded the accused persons to a panel of three Judges for trial.

Aramazan Noordin Higenyi alias Taata Abdallazack and Abdurashid Mbaziira alias Buyondo Muhammed are still on remand on different charges. They had been granted bail on the Kaweesi murder file but remained on remand on a separate file involving child trafficking charges, which is pending before the Mukono Court.

One of the suspects in this case Yusuf Nyanzi appears in two files containing capital offenses and high-profile murders.

He was first arrested in early 2017, on charges of killing Kaweesi, his bodyguard and driver. He was later charged with the murder of Major Muhammad Kiggundu and his bodyguard Sergent Steven Mukasa on November 26th, 2016 in Masanafu, a Kampala city suburb.

He was also recently freed on a third capital offense file after there was no sufficient evidence to pin him. This third file arose barely a year after his release by Lady Justice Lydia Mugambe on bail, security rearrested Nyanzi from his home in Kisaasi Kyanja in connection with the attempted murder of Works and Transport Minister, General Edward Katumba Wamala and the murder of his daughter Brenda Nantongo Wamala and driver, Haruna Kayondo on June 1st, 2021.

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