How detective followed killers of boda boda rider to Kenya
The killers are pursued by the Kenyan police after they breached the border guidelines. ILLUSTRATION BY COSMAS ARINITWE.
Kampala- Siraj Wambede, a boda boda rider, was last seen negotiating fares with two passengers at about 3pm on Jie Street in Moroto Municipality on the night of March 25, 2011.
The next day, Wambede didn’t appear. His uncle, Elias Mwambu, had a feeling something must have gone wrong. He contacted Wambede’s father and reported a case of a missing person at police.
Before major efforts were made to establish the whereabouts of the missing person, Moroto District police was contacted by their counterparts in Kenya that a body of an unidentified man had been found on Nakabala-Nakiloro Road near their border.
Moroto police officers led by Assistant Inspector of Police, Paul Osakam, went to the scene to start investigations.
At the scene, police investigators concluded that it could have been a murder case since the deceased’s body had marks pointing to a struggle involving at least three people.
The body had a deep cut on the left jaw, another around the neck, a stab wound on the chest and amputated lower limbs.
It was taken to the hospital for further medical examination and identification.
Since police had already got a case of a missing
boda boda rider, they contacted the chairperson of the riders, who then picked Mwambu and the duo visited the hospital to identify the deceased. Mwambu identified the deceased as Wambede.
The detectives couldn’t find the motorcycle UDR 235C that he was last seen with, which painted a picture that the deceased had been killed by assailants who wanted to steal his motorcycle. Police’s task was to look for the killers and recover the motorcycle.
Again AIP Osakam was contacted by his colleagues in Kenya informing him that they had arrested a suspect who was in a possession of a motorcycle bearing number plates of one that belonged to the deceased. He crossed to Kenya to probe the case further at Lokiriama Police Post.
Kenyan police officers told him that on the evening of March 25, two people came riding the motorcycle but when they reached the border checkpoint, they didn’t stop as per the guidelines, this led to a pursuit. The officers said they arrested the rider but his passengers fled.
They told him that the suspect had been taken to their main station at Lodwar in Kenya. He continued with his journey to Lodwar Police Station where all the information was confirmed.
AIP Osakam even talked to the suspect and picked details of the robbed motorcycle.
The suspect was identified as Benard Marunda alias Mohamed Ekalapatan, a Kenyan national, and was found with Shs18,000 and a mobile phone which the Kenyan officers believed belonged to the deceased.
AIP Osakam couldn’t walk away with the suspect since he was in a foreign country and needed an extradition order. He had to return in Uganda empty-handed.
An extradition order is a long process but the officer, in communication with his counterparts in Kenya, said he would fast-track it. However, the Kenyan authorities said he had to wait a little longer.
He was told that Marunda had several pending cases in Kenya for which he had to answer first before he could be handed over to Uganda. Marunda had earlier been convicted over similar cases in Kenya but he escaped.
He searched for more information by going to the place where the deceased was last seen and talked to those who could recall the people he last interacted with.
Aldo Elia Kocho, a rider in Moroto Municipality, told detectives he recalled also getting a deal from two passengers who wanted him to transport them to the Kenyan side. Kocho said he had accepted the deal but was ‘let down’ by the owner of the motorcycle who had another trip on the same day.
When asked about the description of the suspects, he said one was tall, dark-skinned and had squinted eyes. He said the man was more assertive than the other passenger.
Simon Otim, the chairman of the boda boda riders in the area, also said he was approached by a man with squinted eyes who wanted to be transported to Namaropus in Kenya.
Otim said when they had agreed on the fares, he told him he would carry two passengers. Otim asked for more money which the man declined so the deal failed. He gave the same description as Kocho.
AIP Osakam now had to follow where the deceased travelled as he reconstructed the scene.
He had to go back to Kenya to talk to the relatives of the prime suspect. With the help of the Kenyan police, he got in touch with Yusuf Ekiru, who had been earlier interrogated by Kenyan detectives when he went to visit the suspect at the police station.
Ekiru accepted to travel to Moroto District in Uganda to help police with the investigations.
In his statement, Ekiru told detectives that two weeks before Marunda’s arrest, he spent a day at his home at Lokiriama in Kenya. Ekiru said Marunda was a brother to his friend. He added that Marunda told him he was on his way to Uganda for a business deal.
He said when Marunda was arrested, the area chief summoned him at the police post that someone who claims to be his friend was in custody. He said he identified Marunda at a police post in Kenya. The description given by the previous witnesses matched with that of Ekiru.
Mwambu crosses into Kenya
When Mwambu crossed into Kenya, he confirmed that the motorcycle that was recovered was his and he had given it to the deceased to earn a living. Zaituni Namono, a relative to the deceased, also identified the mobile phone recovered from Marunda as belonging to the deceased.
Despite overwhelming evidence against Marunda, AIP Osakam couldn’t take the suspect to court. His alternative was to process a murder charge against Marunda and the other at large and submit the file to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
It was that sanctioned file that AIP Osakam used to seek a warrant of arrest in court for Marunda. The same warrant was sent to Kenya through International Police.
Nearly two years later in October 2013, Marunda was extradited to Uganda to face justice. He was brought to Moroto Police Station where he recorded his statement. He denied participating in the robbery and murder of the deceased.
His statement was added to the file and he was presented in court and charged with murder and aggravated robbery. In 2014, his trial started in High Court at Moroto.
Marunda pinned
Prosecution presented all the witnesses from whom they recorded statements. The witnesses placed him in Moroto Districts on the fateful day. Marunda’s defence was that he was in a Kenyan jail on March 25, 2011 when Wambede was killed so he couldn’t have been in two places at ago.
“I was released from prison on January 20, 2011 and re-arrested on escape charges on February 14, 2011. I returned to prison on March 16, 2011 where I stayed until October 10, 2013,” he said.
Justice Henrietta Wolayo in her judgement said Marunda’s claim that he was in a Kenya prison on the fateful day were false since he had been seen by three witnesses in Moroto Municipality and in Kenya.
“With respect to murder, I find that the circumstantial evidence of possession of property that had been in the possession of Wambede and his death as well as cut wounds found on the body lead to the inference that the accused murdered the deceased with malice aforethought,” Justice Wolayo said.
Justice Wolayo added: “With respect to aggravated robbery, the very fact that the accused was found in possession of property that belonged to the deceased is credible evidence that the accused violently robbed the deceased.
I agree with the two assessors that the State has proved beyond reasonable doubt both murder and aggravated robbery as indicted. He is accordingly convicted of both counts as indicted”.
On July 29, 2016, Marunda was sentenced to 37 years in jail for each charge of murder and aggravated robbery. He is serving both sentences concurrently.
