Magara murder: Prisons boss freed

What you need to know:

  • No evidence. Mr Apollo Akankunda’s phone number had been linked to the kidnappers but CMI found no evidence to pin him to the murder of Susan Magara.

Mr Apollo Akankunda, the Senior Superintendent of Prisons who had been arrested over the kidnap and eventual murder of Susan Magara in February, has been released.
Magara was abducted from Kampala on February 7 and her body was later discovered on February 27 after her family reportedly paid the kidnappers Shs700m in ransom in the hope of saving her life.
A number of arrests followed, and at least nine suspects have since been charged in court.
On March 17, Saturday Monitor reported that Mr Akankunda had been detained after he was arrested from the Uganda Prisons headquarters in Kampala on March 8 by officers attached to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) to assist with investigations into the murder of Susan Magara.
This newspaper has since learnt that Mr Akankunda was eventually allowed to walk back home a free man after military officers found no evidence during his interrogation at the CMI offices in the Kampala suburb of Mbuya where he was detained for over a month.
Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson Frank Baine told Sunday Monitor in a telephone interview on Friday: “I can confirm that our officer was released and is now a free man.”
“Those who were holding him found nothing connecting him in whatever way to the reason of his arrest and he was actually released shortly before the other suspects were taken to court. He will return to office to start his normal duties of serving the country after his extended leave,” he added.
Sources close to the investigations told this newspaper during Mr Akankunda’s detention that the officer’s mobile telephone number was linked to those of the suspected kidnappers after CMI did a print out of the same.
This newspaper reported before the Prisons officer was released that suspicion was mounting that what linked Mr Akankunda to the gory crime that involved cutting off Magara’s fingers before her killing could have been a set-up.