Shamba boy kills boss over wealth

It was 2pm, June 20, 2012. Josephine Nalwadda, 70, had not been seen for more than six hours. Her house in Muyala village, Kamengo Sub-county in Mpigi District was locked.
Nalwadda always informed her friends about her whereabouts whenever she left home. However, this time, she hadn’t.

Her husband, John Muhirwa, was away on a visit in Kampala.
When passers-by asked about her whereabouts, they were told she had moved out– gone to the garden. Her relatives were bothered by her long absentia. They thought of breaking down her door to confirm she was not inside and unwell but decided to wait a little longer, hoping she would show up. When she didn’t, they got into the house through the window.
Replacing the window seemed easier than fixing a door. So, they smashed the window to gain entry. And there, on the floor, was the motionless body of their loved one.

Nalwadda’s body was lying in a pool of blood just near the bed, with clot of blood caked on the wall. All retreated in fright, and raised an alarm. The community gathered at the sound of the cries. They all wondered who could have killed an elderly woman.

Kamengo Police Station was told about the incident, and sniffer dogs were rushed to the scene to ensure the criminals did not escape. Kamengo Police Station shared the information with Mpigi Police Station.

Jimmy Bavamunsi, a veteran detective, was immediately deployed with a team of detectives at the scene of crime.
Detectives opened the house and found Nalwadda’s body lying in a pool of blood with wounds on her head. Next to the body, were two knives and an axe.

“We got police dogs, scene of crime officers and tried to sniff around the area without success. Many people had already moved around the area and a scent couldn’t be got,” Bavamunsi recalls.

No tracks had been left behind at the scene.
“We didn’t get anything. We were almost stuck,” he recalls.
Bavamunsi’s team resorted to official procedure.
“I made a roll call of all the people who lived within the house and in their neighbourhood. All were asked to make statements except two people who were not around, the deceased’s husband, Muhirwa and a shamba boy, Jorevasio Kabagambe,” he says.

Soon the deceased’s husband arrived and also made a statement. Detectives waited for Kabagambe in vain.
As they figured where he could be, one James Kigingi said he had earlier seen him riding a bicycle heading to Kamengo Township with luggage on the pillion.

Kigingi told detectives he asked Kabagambe where he was going and kabagambe said Maama Sarah (Nalwadda’s, daughter) had asked him to take the luggage to Kamengo stage.
Detectives telephoned Maama Sarah, who feigned ignorance.
It was now apparent that the detectives had someone to focus on.

“I asked for details of Kabagambe. I was shocked when they told me that he wasn’t a family member but a shamba boy,” the detective says.

The only details they had was that the deceased got him from Kampiringisa rehabilitation centre. When she got impressed by how well he did his chores, she introduced him to her family as a son. No background check was done to find out his place of origin and family.

Detectives went to Kampiringisa centre to find out more. Kampiringisa officials told them Kabagambe had long completed his punishment and was released from the correctional centre. The officials said they received Kabagambe after he was arrested in Kampala city.

“One official told us Kabagambe had told his friends that he hailed from a place called Kagezi in Rakai District,” the investigating officer says.

At this point, police were not yet not sure whether the person they were looking for was the culprit. The hardest task was to find Kabagambe.

He had no mobile phone so could not be tracked. No one had a photo of him.
Detectives only had two options – to wander around the city centre looking for somebody whose identity they had no idea about, and travelling to Rakai. However, both options required resources, which the police didn’t have.
They decided to try their lack in Rakai.

“When we reached Kagezi village, Rakai District, I went to the police and they connected us to the local council members. We told them we were looking for someone called Kabagambe. They didn’t know anyone by that name,” he says.
Fortunately, Kabagambe had one feature he could easily be identified by. One of his legs had a disability so he didn’t walk normally. Detectives described the feature to them.

“They told me that they called him Butcherman [stage name used by a renowned local artiste, Mark Bugembe, who has a disability on his leg]. They said the boy returned ‘loaded’ and he was having a good time in the bars,” he says.

On Day Three in Rakai, they were told Kabagambe had left the village. He was now operating in Tanzania. The detectives’ jurisdiction couldn’t go beyond Mutukula border on the Ugandan side.

This meant they had to first prove that Kabagambe was indeed a suspect in the murder case. Then the file was to be taken to court asking for an arrest warrant, which was to be sent to Tanzania through International Police to enforce his arrest and extradite him to Uganda.

Hatching Plan B

The process was not only long, but they didn’t have any evidence that Kabagambe was involved in the killing of his former boss. They had to first return to their base in Kampala and replan. They had hit a dead end.

“I had to be sure that the person presumed to be in Tanzania is the Kabagambe before taking the next step. I sent one Kaliisa, a relative of the deceased, whom we had gone with and who knew Kabagambe, to a Tanzanian village to spy,” he says.

Kaliisa came back and confirmed he had indeed seen Kabagambe.
Bavamunsi hatched another plan; detectives were to pretend to be businessmen with a hot deal for Kabagambe.
Kabagambe was to be lured into meeting businessmen on the Ugandan side then he would get arrested.
Mpigi detectives and Rakai officers agreed that the new plot was better than the extradition process.

“Since Kabagambe didn’t know us (police officers), we became the businessmen looking for merchandise in Tanzania. He was contacted and came running to the Uganda side,” he says.
On getting to the meeting place, Kabagambe was shocked to see Kaliisa, whom he knew. He tried to run but his legs couldn’t save him. His hosts were armed to the teeth.

Kabagambe surrendered, and was immediately interrogated but denied killing Nalwadda and claimed his only aim was making away with the property and money.

He mentioned John Muhigo, Jackson Kivumbi, John Musisi and a 14-year-old David Mwanje as his accomplices. Kabagambe told detectives that he kept the money with his mother and that they had buried it in an anti-hill.

“Since we had moved with a big group, including civilians, I knew information was bound to leak. I told them that we should proceed to the mother’s home before she is alerted,” he says.
They went straight to the place where the money had been buried.

Bavamunsi says: “We dug and found nothing. So we turned to him. He said he had buried the money with her mother. We arrested her mother.”

Kabagambe’s mother said she had dug out the money (Shs5m) and kept it with a male friend only identified as John. John was also arrested. Though he admitted keeping the money, he stated a lower amount and said Kabagambe’s mother had withdrawn nearly all.

With three people in custody, the detectives were worried the people Kabagambe talked about were going to find out about the police’s plan to arrest them and would flee.

“It was night but I told my team we needed to drive back to Mpigi as soon as possible. Indeed, we drove back,” he says.
Upon arrival at Mpigi, they looked for the suspects. Their intelligence unit found out Kivumbi was at a party in the same village.

“Officers were sent to arrest him. He put up a spirited fight punching the officers. Many were injured. If the officers had been trigger-happy, they would have shot him dead,” he says.
Finally, he was subdued and dragged to Mpigi Police Station.
The officers then went for Muhigo, who was still employed at the home of the deceased. Musisi was arrested in Maama Sarah’s housewhere he was a caretaker. Mwanje was picked from his parents’ home. In a few minutes, all the suspects were in custody. Muhigo, Kivumbi, Musisi and Mwanje denied being involved until Kabagambe was brought in their midst.

Mwanje opened up, saying he had been given Shs30,000 to keep outside the house and if he saw any person coming, he would alert them. He had spent the proceeds on buying a mobile phone. Police seized the phone. With all suspects in custody, the detectives started recording their statements.

Kabagambe told detectives that before the incident, they would meet frequently at the deceased’s home and sometimes in other venues and plotted how to execute the plan.

Each of them was given a role to play. Kabagambe was to ensure he duplicates all the house keys. Muhigo was to enter the house with Kivumbi and the latter was to hack Nalwadda. Since Kagabambe knew every part of the house, he was to collect everything worth stealing in the house, including the money Nalwadda had piled in the safe. Nalwadda had a good number of estates she earned from and since her children were all doing well, she spent it on none of them. She kept the money in her house.

After the hacking, Kabagambe would take his share of the loot and leave the area so he would never get caught, and to protect the rest of the team.

The plot was executed as planned. With Kabagambe out of the picture, Muhigo continued with his work at the deceased’s home. Mwanje also came around and mourned the deceased and Kivumbi continued to party like he had always done until Kabagambe was arrested.

During the statement recording process, John, whom Kabagambe’s mother had entrusted with the money, said he didn’t know the money he was given was earned from murder.

“I didn’t know that the money had blood on it. I can take you to where I buried it in my bedroom,” John told detectives.
The investigating officer, Bavamunsi, his district police commander, Julius Ahimbisibwe, and a son of the deceased jumped in the car and drove the man to Rakai District to recover the money.

“We were so tired that the driver dozed off twice, and nearly rammed the car into an island at Lukaya on Masaka Road, and a grader on Mutukula road. I had to take over and drive the car,” he says.

At John’s home, they went straight to the bedroom.
“It was early in the morning but the room was a bit dark since it had no window. We had to make use of our torches,” he says.

Suspect turns against detectives

“I stood near the door, my DPC Ahimbisibwe was on the other side and the armed officer in the middle. John bent at the rear side of the bed and folded the mattress as if he was creating space to remove the money,” Bavamunsi narrates.
He instead grabbed a machete. One of the officers fainted, and John went for his throat.

“I jumped on him and I struggled to disarm him. My colleagues joined in the tussle until we overpowered him.”
Some detectives rushed to the car to get the first aid box.
Bavamunsi says they were lucky that the machete was blunt and the cut on the officer’s throat wasn’t that deep. They later dug the bedroom floor but found nothing.

“We never recovered the money though we got the tunic Kabagambe had gifted John in the bedroom,” he says.
They drove back to Mpigi with their suspect. The file was submitted to Director of Public Prosecutions, who sanctioned charges of murder against Kabagambe, Muhigo, Kivumbi, Musisi and Mwanje. The rest were released.
On August 25, 2014, Kampala High Court Justice Jane Alividza convicted them of murder.

Kabagambe was sentenced to 43 years in jail, Muhigo 47 years, Kivumbi 45 years and Musisi got 30-year jail term.
However, Mwanje being a juvenile, was given a maximum sentence of three years.

“It was a tiresome and costly task. We couldn’t have succeeded if there was no team work between police and relatives of the deceased. I have never worked with such a spirited team before and after,” Bavamunsi says.

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