Club Guvnor Murder: Kamyuka has a case to answer

Mr Ivan Kamyuka (L)  at the high court recently. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI

High Court in Kampala has ruled that the key suspect in the murder of the patron of Club Guvnor has a case to answer.

Mr Ivan Kamyuka is charged with the murder of John Ahimbisbwe aka Jonnie. Prosecution states that Kamyuka on August 2, 2015 with malice aforethought murdered Jonnie at Club Guvnor on First Street, Industrial Area in Kampala.

In a session presided over by Justice Wilson Kwesiga, he held the suspect will make his defence against the murder allegations on September 18.

Justice Kwesiga’s ruling was prompted by prosecution led by the Senior Principal State Attorney, Ms Jane Okuo Kajuga’s assertion that she had closed the line of witnesses with 11 people having testified against the suspect.

Kamyuka is expected to choose from the three available options of staying silent, giving unsworn testimony or choosing to give sworn testimonies, which will require the prosecution to cross-examine  him, and later he will be required to present witnesses to testify in his favour if he so wishes.

After the ruling, defence lawyer Mr Henry Kunya hinted that his client’s wife, Nima Nyarwaka, might be one of the defence witnesses and since she is abroad they may seek court allow her testify through a video call. 

On June 2, Jonnie’s sister Ms Charity Kyomuhendo testified that the murder of her brother could have been caused by the paternity row he had with his mistress Nima (Currently, Kamyuka’s wife). She said Jonnie had told her that Nima had given away his child to another man.

Another witness Detective Sergeant Michael Jackson Okello told court he was assigned to take pictures during the postmortem on Jonnie’s body. He said the body bore a deep cut on the left lower jaw towards the neck and when the body was dissected by the pathologist, he observed that some muscles in the deceased’s neck had been cut severely.

Jonnie was killed in the early morning hours of August 2, 2015, at Club Guvnor in Industrial Area, Kampala’s Central Division, when he had a confrontation with Kamyuka and suffered a cut in the neck inflicted by a sharp object. He bled to death.