Acid injuries on suspect lead to his arrest

He pours the acid on her face but the liquid pours on his face as well.

What you need to know:

Caught red-handed. The suspect had been trailing the victim for days before he unleashed a container of acid on her face. But the unrelenting mob could not let him go scot-free even when he told them he was also a victim

Kampala.

After winding up work in the city, Safina Namawejje would retire to her home around Makerere-Kavule zone, Kampala. Namawejje was known in the area for her tranquillity and solitary life.

But between May 2 and May 6, 2002, a man would be seen loitering around Namawejje’s home every afternoon and evening. Her neighbours were puzzled by the consistent efforts of the youth. However, none wanted to get involved in affairs that didn’t concern them. They just observed him and proceeded with their business.

The suspect trails Safina Namawejje. Illustrations by Cosmas Arinaitwe

Mr Farouk Namugera, a boda boda cyclist operating near Namawejje’s home, said at around 3pm, he saw the man following Namawejje whenever she was returning home. “The man would then walk past her home and continue on his journey. He did it for some days,” Mr Namugera later told the police.

At around 8:30pm on May 2, 2002, as Namawejje strolled around the village, boda boda cyclists at the nearby stage saw the man trailing her. A few metres away from where they were seated, Mr Namugera said they heard a woman yelling that she had been killed.

“Omusajja anzise (the man has killed me),” Mr Namugera recalled the woman crying out loud. “She jumped around in pain and she seemed to have lost her sight because she was staggering and tripping. Then I saw the man we had seen for several days closely following her running away towards Bwaise area,” he recalled.

He pours the acid on her face but the liquid pours on his face as well.

Namugera and other residents rushed to find out what had happened to her. They found Namawejje groaning in pain. Their first assessment revealed that she was wet and she quickly revealed to them that a man had poured a liquid that was irritating her skin. A close look revealed to them that the man had poured acid on her. Namugera swiftly picked her and put her on a motorcycle and took her to Mulago National Referral Hospital.

By the time she reached the hospital, she was in bad shape. The skin had started peeling off. Meanwhile, her attack infuriated residents after they discovered a container that the suspect had abandoned at the scene. Although it was dark, they chose to carry out a hunt for him.

The attacker had fled towards Bwaise, an area that is populated and has many unplanned buildings, which is very easy for someone to disappear without a trace.

Nevertheless, the residents pursued him. Mr George Byaruhanga and Mr Arthur Kanakulya participated in the hunt.
Mr Byaruhanga said they expected the suspect to be far, but they moved for about 800 metres and intercepted him when he was about to connect to the main road and jump on a motorcycle.
Byaruhanga said the suspect was easy to identify since he had injuries on the face.

Upon arrest, residents asked him why he had poured acid on an innocent woman. The man, who identified himself as Mike Kyoterekera, said someone had poured acid on them as they were walking and he was also a victim.

He showed them the injuries he had sustained in the attack. The residents were sceptical so they asked him why he was fleeing the scene if he had also been a victim. Kyoterekera’s answer was clear. He was running thinking that the attackers were pursuing him to finish him off.

However, residents were not convinced so they took him back to the area where the woman had been attacked. More people converged. Some claimed to have seen him in the area for more than four days tracking the same woman. Others claimed that they saw him moving around the area with the container that was abandoned at the scene.

But Kyoterekera denied all the allegations, which angered the mob. They started beating him up as he pleaded for mercy until police arrived to rescue him.

Police overpowered the mob and whisked the suspect away.
Police officers detained him at Kalerwe Police Post briefly as his health was deteriorating. They later drove him to Mulago hospital where he was admitted after sustaining injuries from the acid attack and the mob.

Police officers at the hospital were ordered to keep an eye on him as he recuperated while other detectives were sent to the scene and interviewed eyewitnesses. The abandoned container was also exhibited. The contents were taken for examination at the government analytical laboratory. Later, the test revealed that the liquid was sulphuric acid.

Above Namawejje writhes in pain as residents come to her rescue.

A day or two later, Namawejje succumbed to injuries at Mulago hospital. A post mortem indicated that she had died of external injuries with burns on the face, neck, anterior chest and upper arms. Her death was also attributed to respiratory failure following the acid injuries. Police amended the charge from grievous harm to murder. Meanwhile, security at Kyoterekera’s bedside was beefed up.

When he recuperated, detectives recorded his statement in which he consistently denied having a hand in Namawejje’s death. He insisted that he was victim of an acid attack, but he didn’t see the attacker. Detectives couldn’t ably identify the motive of the acid attacker since the only suspect they had had become uncooperative.

They had to rely on a piece-up evidence to have a murder case that requires the highest degree of proof and evidence to secure a sanction and later on a conviction.

Prosecution case
From the statements recorded from the scene of crime, officers had to create scenario of what happened during the last moments of the deceased. Detectives suspected that when Kyoterekera poured acid on the deceased, he could have used reasonable force so that the acid from her body also splashed on him.

The suspect is finally caught as he attempts to escape.


Since the acid had also splashed on the attackers’ eyes, he couldn’t escape because he was also blinded.

Although the detectives didn’t get to know the motive of the case, they proceeded to submit the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions since they had a number of witnesses.
The file was sanctioned and Kyoterekera was produced before court where he was remanded until his case was forwarded to the High Court that has the powers to hear such felonious offences.
While taking plea in the High Court, Kyoterekera denied the murder charges.

During trial before Justice Rubby Aweri Opio, prosecutors presented more than eight witnesses, including Mr Namugera and medical experts.

Kyoterekera didn’t produce any witness though in his defence, he insisted that he was just a victim of the attack and should have been treated as so. Justice Aweri didn’t believe him. In his judgment, Justice Aweri said there were many eyewitnesses that had seen Kyoterekera near the deceased.

“After the incident, he was seen running towards Bwaise while the victim took to the direction of Kalerwe. While the victim was crying for help, the accused never cried although it turned out that he had also suffered terrible burns on the face.
“The accused was arrested and identified...soon after the attack apparently after the same substance had blinded him and he would not go far,” Justice Aweri said.

Court verdict
“By divine intervention, the accused branded himself at the scene of crime possibly because the victim might have put her hands to ward off the attack thereby splashing the same substance on his face. For the above reasons, I do agree with both assessors that the prosecution has proved all the essential ingredients of the offence of murder. I therefore find the accused guilty as charged and he is convicted accordingly,” he said.
The judge later sentenced Kyoterekera to death, which is the punishment for murder. The case was one of the few cases in which an acid attacker was arrested and successfully prosecuted.

Acid cases in Uganda
In 2009, results from a survey carried out by Acid Survivors Foundation Uganda (ASFU) on acid attacks indicated that acid is readily available in retail shops in Kampala and is traded as any other commodity on the market.

With a litre of acid costing between Shs2,000 and Shs3,000, its accessibility limited by unimplemented guidelines from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, the number of victims is expected to go higher. Since 1985, only 421 victims have filed complaints against their perpetrators with the police. Of these, 55 per cent are women while 45 per cent are men.

The highest cause is believed to be relationships gone bad with women to women attacks being the most prevalent while most men are attacked due to business rivalry and property disputes. The recent trend of attacks have been men attacking their wives or lovers. Acid violence is a criminal offence punishable under the Penal Code Act Cap 220. [email protected]