Investigators rule out kidnap in death of Wakiso land dealer

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A combined team of investigators has ruled out the possibility of kidnap in the death of Wakiso land dealer Samuel Musiitwa. Musiitwa was an elder brother of the late Star FM journalist Robert Kagolo.

Musiitwa was found dead inside the car belonging to his wife Aanyu Florence Adong on April 26. This was after he had spent five days missing. Investigators have reliably established that Musiitwa left his home in Kasengejje, Wakiso district on April 20th following a quarrel with his wife.

Trouble started on April 14, when Musiitwa allegedly found Adong in her car with an alleged Mulago hospital doctor Kaye Mukasa in a compromising position. The deceased had accused the wife of having an affair with Mukasa.

Musiitwa, according to investigators fought Mukasa and Adong. The duo reported a case of assault at Kasengejje police station. On the same evening, Musiitwa chased Adong from their marital home, but she was brought back on April 16 by their elder son Elvis Kamya.

Relatives, children counselled the couple but Musiitwa again fought the wife in the wee hours of April 20th. In the morning, Musiitwa packed some of his clothes and drove away in his wife’s car after warning that he would never return to the home.

“Musiitwa even locked the wife and children inside the house. He threw the keys in the compound. The family was opened for by the neighbour who had them crying for help. Musiitwa did not return home from that day,” an investigator said.

After two days of missing, Adong and Kagolo reported a case of a missing person at Kasengejje police station. Kagolo was shot dead three days later by a Local Defence Unit-LDU personnel he had requested to guard Musiitwa’s home as they headed for burial in Gomba district.

Before Musiitwa was discovered dead in his wife’s car, he sent WhatsApp audios to his son Elvis Kamya and Kagolo claiming he had been kidnapped around Mulago hospital. In the audios, he claimed his kidnappers were going to kill him and he directed the family where his body was to be found.

Police and military intelligence teams, as well as detectives started tracing for all the people who made calls to Musiitwa when he was allegedly under kidnap. Upon getting phone printouts, it was established that the deceased made and also received 24 calls from a telephone line belonging to Annet Mbabazi.

“We tracked for Annet Mbabazi and we arrested her. She has accepted that she was with Musiitwa from April 20th up to 24th. The two were meeting at a hotel in Kyanja. But Musiitwa never went there with the wife’s car,” an investigator said.

Mbabazi is currently detained at Special Investigations Division in Kireka. She joins Adong and Mukasa who were arrested earlier regarding Musiitwa’s murder. Detectives and the intelligence team has established that Musiitwa booked a room at the hotel which is currently being kept as a secret from the very first day he disappeared from the home and left the room early in the morning on the very day he was found dead in the wife’s car.

“We have obtained the CCTV footage from the hotel and a copy of the receipt for accommodation. The footage shows Musiitwa and Mbabazi together in the hotel premises. It is only on April 25 and 26 when they did not meet at the hotel. But Musiitwa continued living there until the day he died,” the detective said.

Mbabazi in her statement says she was Musiitwa’s girlfriend 10 years ago but she dumped him for not being serious. However, Musiitwa called her to meet him in March this year as a friend. He told her that he was working with a cement company in Rwanda.

“On April 20th, he told me he had been fired from the job in Rwanda but he did not want his family to know. He requested me to meet him in Bwaise but I rejected him because that place is far from my home. I advised him to get a place near my home in Kyanja where I could meet him and we talk. He did. That is where we’re meeting,” the source quotes Mbabazi.

Mbabazi adds that she called Musiitwa but his phones weren’t going through. She later read in newspapers that he had been found dead. Mbabazi told detectives that she was sure she was to be arrested because even on the fateful day, she drove him to town when he said he was going back to Rwanda.

With the latest development, investigators have ruled out the possibility of kidnap. They are waiting for a toxicological report from Government Analytical Laboratory –GAL to establish the exact cause of death. Postmortem at Mulago mortuary showed he died of suffocation. He however had foam in the mouth and nose.

CID spokesperson Charles Twine said he was not aware of the new development. But he promised that justice would be served to the family. URN understands that CID director AIGP Grace Akullo is closely monitoring all strides taken to understand the circumstances that led to the killing of Musiitwa and later Kagolo.

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URN