Court sentences three to 15 years in jail for sedating, robbing coffee dealer

Three men approach a coffee dealer and convince him that they are transporters and are ready to ferry his coffee to Kampala. He agrees to the deal. Illustrations by Cosmos Arinitwe

What you need to know:

  • In his report to the police, Bwambale said he was travelling in a truck his boss had hired to transport unprocessed coffee to Kampala when in the middle of the journey, the driver suddenly stopped.
  • Enos Bwambale said he was travelling in a truck his boss had hired to transport unprocessed coffee to Kampala when he was attacked by three occupants he was travelling with on the truck who threw him out of the truck before making off with coffee worth Shs50m.

KAMPALA. He was covered with dirt and was staggering through Bwera Town in Kasese District on April 14, 2014.
Many people who knew Enos Bwambale decided to take different directions to avoid the embarrassment of having an encounter with a man in such a disgraceful manner, after spotting him from a distance.
They were seeing a drunken man struggling to locate his residence.
A good Samaritan came to his help since he didn’t know him as a heavy drinker.
When the good Samaritan talked to Bwambale, he appeared not to be drunk. Bwambale asked the good Samaritan to help him get medical attention after explaining that he had been attacked by thugs.
Bosco Gera was one of the people who joined in to transport him to hospital for treatment.
At the hospital, medical experts were quick to find out what the problem was. Bwambale had been sedated with power drugs. The medical experts would do everything in their means to save his life.

Midway the journey, the trio turn against the coffee dealer and rob him before making off with the coffee.

As soon as he gained consciousness, he immediately went to report a case of robbery to the police station.
In his report to the police, Bwambale said he was travelling in a truck his boss had hired to transport unprocessed coffee to Kampala when in the middle of the journey, the driver suddenly stopped.
After stopping, the three occupants he was travelling with on the truck, turned against him.
“One slapped me. The other pulled and threw me out of the truck. Then they all joined in clobbering me. They took property I had on me,” Bwambale said.
He told the police officer that one of his captors placed a handkerchief soaked with sedatives on his noise and he lost consciousness.

He said it was the last thing he could recall. He woke up feeling dizzy hours later and abandoned by the roadside. He said he was helped by good Samaritans who came to his rescue later.
The officers concluded that the coffee worth Shs50m had been stolen.
Detectives Hakim Adam and Corporal Alex Arinaitwe were assigned to find the suspects and recover the missing coffee.

Police recover the stolen coffee at the buyer’s premises in Kyazanga, Lwengo District.


The investigating officer, Adam, had heard similar stories that later turned out to be cases of connivance. The detectives could not readily figure out why people known by the victim could carry out an offence that could easily turn against them. Curious, they took Bwambale’s statement.
The two detectives started from how the lorry and its crew were hired to transport the coffee.
Bwambale told the detectives that he came into contact with the suspects through his boss.

He said the three men came a few days before the fateful day asking for business of transporting coffee.
He said they offered his manager good rates and they were given the business to ferry the coffee to Kampala.
The mobile phone contacts of the suspect he availed to the detectives had since been switched off. He only knew the suspects by one first name. And that the truck operates in areas of Kawempe Division in Kampala City.
Interestingly, he hadn’t also taken due diligence to read the registration number plates of the truck.
The detectives started from square one since they needed to involve the police unit beyond their jurisdiction.
Gera, a friend to the victim and one of the first respondents, used Police Flying Squad Unit to track the prime suspect, a one Ibra, but in vain.

However, the Flying Squad operatives were able to get a contact of a broker who had helped the prime suspect get a transport business.
The broker, who was identified as Isima Ssenyonga, was tricked by the police officers who posed as people seeking a vehicle to transport their merchandise.
Ssenyonga was invited to ink the deal at a hotel where he was joined by a friend.
“When they entered the hotel for the meeting, both were arrested to help investigators. I only knew Ssenyonga. But the detectives said they wanted to talk to both of them,” Gera said in a police statement.
At the police station, the second person was identified as Adam Kalanzi. Both denied any involvement in the robbery.
Kalanzi wondered why he had been arrested yet he had never been ‘involved in any crime’.

The coffee buyer pins the suspects in court. The judge convicts them of robbery and sentences them.

The detectives were puzzled on what to do with Kalanzi. But when Bwambale was called in for a suspect parade, he identified Ssenyonga as the broker who connected them to the prime suspect. He claimed the duo beat him up on the fateful day, prompting the detectives to clear doubts that Kalanzi was an innocent man. Ssenyonga told detectives that he only connected the prime suspect to Bwambale and nothing else.
He said he couldn’t recall the name of the prime suspect.
Since Ssenyonga had been arrested, he was told to check his mobile phone and get the contact of the prime suspect.
He had no choice but to provide the contacts of those who were close to the prime suspect.

Detectives contacted each person in the provided list until they got the full name of the prime suspect. The prime suspect was identified as Ibrahim Ssenfuka.
Another contact told the detectives that Ssenfuka was staying in Kawempe Division in Kampala City.
Ssenfuka was arrested and transferred back to Kasese District.
During the interrogations, he first denied beating up Bwambale let alone robbing him of the coffee.
He instead accused Ssenyonga and Kalanzi of committing the crime.
He said Ssenyonga was the mastermind of the plot and Kalanzi took the coffee after the crime.

Connecting the links
It was at that point that detectives connected links between Ssenfuka, Ssenyonga and Kalanzi.
Detectives’ interests were also in finding the coffee and the lorry that was used in the robbery.
Ssenfuka led the detectives to the lorry in Kawempe where it was recovered though the coffee had already been sold off.
Kalanzi, whom his accomplices accused of selling the coffee, took the detective to Kyazanga in Lwengo District where the coffee was sold.
Kibuka Mbaaga confirmed to have bought coffee from Kalanzi and he paid him all the money in cash and through the bank.
Detectives recorded his statement and obtained records of proof that the money was paid.
He provided receipt of Centenary Bank where he paid the money.
Later detectives wrote to the bank seeking bank details about money transfers from Mbaaga’s account to Kalanzi’s.
Centenary Bank officer Dianah Kabanyoro confirmed that Mbaaga had indeed wired about Shs40m to Kalanzi’s account.

Investigations complete
With the bank confirmation, the detectives completed their investigations. Ssenfuka, Ssenyonga and Kalanzi were charged with armed robbery and conspiracy to commit a felony.

Trial
Their trial commenced at Kasese High Court before Judge Anthony Oyuko Ojok in 2016. The trio denied the charges.
Prosecutors presented more than eight witnesses all providing evidence to prove that there was use of violence in the theft and that two of the suspects were at the scene on the fateful day.
In his defence, Ssenfuka said on the fateful day, he was with his wife Yamula Kabugo in Kawempe Division.
His wife confirmed it in court.
Ssenyonga maintained that he wasn’t involved in the robbery but only helped to connect the two parties and that he had remained in Bwera on the fateful day.
Kalanzi brought his relatives in court who claimed that he was at a family coffee store on that day and never moved to Bwera in Kasese District.

Judge Oyuko evaluated their alibis before rejecting them as mere lies.
He said the trio, and others still at large, worked together to commit the crime.
“Although there were other people involved in the robbery who were never arrested, each of the accused persons is deemed to have committed the offence under the doctrine of common intention as per Section 20 of the Penal Code Act,” Judge Oyuko said.
The Jugde ruled: “In the circumstance, I find that all the accused persons were sufficiently proved to have participated in the offence of aggravated robbery by the prosecution.”
On April, 3, 2017, he convicted them on the offence of conspiracy to commit a felony.

Robbery

Enos Bwambale said he was travelling in a truck his boss had hired to transport unprocessed coffee to Kampala when he was attacked by three occupants he was travelling with on the truck who threw him out of the truck before making off with coffee worth Shs50m. Detectives Hakim Adam and Corporal Alex Arinaitwe were assigned to find the suspects and recover the missing coffee. The Flying Squad Unit operatives were able to get a contact of a broker who had helped the prime suspect get a transport business from where links to the arrest of the suspects were made.

Defence

“..... all the convicts are of advanced age, Ssenfuka is 53 years, Ssenyonga is 54 years, and Kalanzi is 64 years. Ssenfuka and Ssenyonga have been on remand for over two years and 11 months, Kalanzi has been on remand for one year and 11 days. Ssenfuka has a family of two children and two wives, suffers from ulcers and back complications, Ssenyonga is a family man, has a diabetic wife and seven children. Kalanzi has a family of 19 children and three wives; he is diabetic, has a paralysed leg and suffers from ulcers. This should be taken into consideration. I pray for a lenient custodial sentence of 10 years," said Edgar Tukahabwa, counsel to the accused.

Judgment

“This is a serious offence that attracts a maximum sentence of death and should be discouraged. However, I have taken into account the time the convicts have been on remand, their advanced age, their sicknesses, and families. I therefore sentence each of them to 10 years imprisonment on Count I and on Count II, I sentence each of them to five years imprisonment and also to refund the money worth Shs50,460,000 upon completion of their sentence. Both sentences will run concurrently. Right of appeal explained," said Justice Anthony Oyuko Ojok, Kasese High Court.