Lawyers site gaps in testimonies in ongoing Katanga murder trial

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The trial of Molly Katanga, a widow who is accused of murdering her husband Henry Katanga has continued for the second day, with the prosecution presenting its third and fourth witnesses in the matter.

Katanga died on November 2, 2023, in what prosecutors said was a deliberate plot by his wife to end his life.

The wife is charged alongside her children Martha Nkwanzi and Patricia Kankwanzi, for tampering and destroying evidence that could have been used to prove their father’s murder. They are also accused of aiding and abetting the crime alongside the family’s shamba boy George Amanyire and Charles Otai, a Nursing Officer.

Today, Peter Ogwang, the Officer in charge of Bugolobi Police Station testified before court presided over by the Criminal Division Judge Isaac Muwata that Patricia Kakwanzi, a daughter of the deceased, asked him to cover up her father’s death and report it as an accident.

However, Ogwang narrated that he advised Patricia to involve a Scene of Crime Officer instead of covering up the matter. He stated that on the fateful day at around 9 am, he received a call from Dr Charles Otai, informing him of a shooting at a residence in Mbuya.

Ogwang said he found the police’s liaison officer, Samuel  Musede, guarding the scene, and described the gruesome sight of Henry Katanga’s body laid on a new mattress, covered with a bed sheet, with a lot of blood in the room and on the bed, and a black pistol nearby.

However, during cross-examination, it was established that some accounts of his oral testimony were not included in his written statement, which he recorded on November 6, days after the incident.

The defence consisting of Elison Karuhanga, McDusman Kabega, Bruce Musinguzi, John Jet Tumwebaze and Peter Kabatsi then asked the court to accept his statement as their exhibit, raising questions about the reliability of the witness’s testimony.

In a separate testimony, Timothy Nyangwesho, the deceased’s nephew, described his attempts to reach his uncle on the day of the incident. He said, he slept at his mother’s home in Bugolobi and left at 7 am and, an hour later, his mother Naome Nyangwesho asked him to call Katanga, but he was unreachable.

Nyangwesho said he tried calling Katanga on both his lines, but they both went unanswered. His mother, an elder sister to Katanga advised him to call Martha, who instead advised him to call back later because the father was sleeping. But when he called his mother again, she informed him that Katanga was dead.

Nyangwesho says he drove back to Bugolobi and together with his mother, they proceeded to Katanga’s home in Mbuya, where they found senior police and army officers. Nyangwesho says that he was stopped from going upstairs by a UPDF officer who only allowed his mother to proceed.

Under cross-examination by Elison Karuhanga, Nyangwesho confirmed that he recorded a statement at the police station on January 8, 2024, two months after the incident. But Karuhanga suggested that the statement was made to fill gaps in the investigation.

Karuhanga also questioned  Nyangwesho about his phone conversation with Martha, pointing out that Nyangwesho’s phone number was not among the contacts listed in the police forensic report. Nyangwesho admitted that the phone number he called was not Martha’s number and was not saved in his phone.

The prosecution which was being represented by Assistant DPP Samalie Wakooli, ‘Chief State Attorneys Jonathan Muwaganya and Annah Kiiza requested an adjournment to bring more witnesses, which was granted by the court.

Former Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana and lawyers Edgar Ayebazibwe and Brian Rubaihayo represent the interests of the deceased.

All accused individuals, except Molly Katanga who appeared through a  Zoom link connecting to Luzira Women prison, are currently out on bail. The matter will resume on Friday, July 12, 2024.

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