ANALYSIS: Kanyamunyu murder case

Police dilemma

Lenny’s series of questions point to a dilemma that a leading lawyer in Kampala, Laudislaus Rwakafuzi, says is caused by the police. Rwakafuzi who has been involved in similar high profile cases in the past, says that the police should not reveal their findings every now and then in the media.

“They should keep such details of the investigations to themselves as this is the evidence that will be used in court,” he said. He also said that the reports that appear in the media make such cases hard to try because they create certain perceptions that often come to court.

Other legal experts say although the suspects have been charged with murder, the case could be far from over if the police either do not have or prefer to provide evidence that is not water tight enough to ensure the prosecution team does not struggle with the case.

In either case, the police’s professional effectiveness will once again be tested.

Almost as soon as reports of the killing emerged, critics started pointing to the loopholes in police’s investigations. They detailed about how, on the morning after the shooting, instead of cordoning off what had been identified as the scene of crime, over 10 police officers and more civilians descended on the spot raising concerns that they had contaminated it.

None of the officers had a Scene of Crime kit or basic necessities like gloves at the scene. Later, during a public parade of suspects for witnesses to identify the main suspect’s brothers—Joseph and Moses, police officers appeared unprepared and did not have basic equipment like cameras. When lawyers for the suspects insisted on cameras, the police brought in tiny, unprofessional looking cameras that they handled in ways that showed lack of training. Sources at the scene said the officers were fidgeting. Yet a public parade is a critical record.

Matters are also not helped by the fact that police has in the past struggled to crack high profile cases. In some which looked like simple open-and-shut cases, suspects have got away. In other cases, both the police and judges have been under pressure to produce incriminating evidence when there was none.

Cases that have swung one way or the other on this pendulum of pressures have included that of the killing, over one year ago of Joan Kagezi, the Assistant Director of Public Prosecution at the war crimes division of the High Court was gunned down. In that position, she prosecuted most top cases. One case involved 13 suspects of the 2010 twin bomb attacks in Kampala. He killers have never been caught. There are also several cases of sheikhs and Muslic clerics being murdered that have never been resolved.

Another case involved the murder of Eriya Bugembe Sebunya, alias Kasiwukira. He was run over by a car while he was jogging in the morning on October 17, 2014, on the road near his home in Muyenga, a Kampala suburb.

The police dismissed claims that the killing was accidental and Gen. Kayihura ordered investigations whose findings pointed to murder implicating the widow and other family members and business partners.

But Kayihura and his team of investigators soon came under attack even though they made progress, arrested suspected and secured convictions in court.

Another tough case was that of the murder of Juvenal Nsenga. Finally, Nsenga’s wife was found guilty of the murder but not before the case resulted in a fight between the police leadership and the leadership of the DPP.

The most recent case was even more explosive. It involved Aaron Baguma, the former Kampala Central police station boss, who was committed to the High court for trial in connection with the murder of businesswoman Donah Betty Katushabe in 2015.

Baguma was charged alongside Mohammed Ssebuwufu and seven others. The group was charged after Ssebuwufu allegedly directed the torture that led to the death of Katushabe. Ssebuwufu, who is reported to have bribed several senior police officers, was recently given bail.

Then there is the ongoing trial of Desh Kananura for the alleged flogging to death of his worker at the Panamera Bar and Restaurant in the Naguru suburn of Kampala city. Kananura too is out of bail. These cases indicate what fate might finally befall the Kanyamunyu brothers.

• Kanyamunyu’s brothers were arrested because phone records showed they are the people he first called
• Kanyamunyu and Cynthia Munwangari, were arrested as suspects in the death of Kenneth Akena
• Akena was reportedly reversing when he scraped Kanyamunyu’s car, which led to the altercation and the shooting
• Akena died at Norvik Hospital on Sunday morning. The bullet was found in his large intestine.
• The bullet that led to Akena’s death was fired from a pistol
• Instead of cordoning off the scene of crime, over 10 police officers and more civilians descended on the spot raising concerns that they had contaminated it.

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editor@independent.co.ug