How phone printouts led police to Mbarara woman killers

Police recover the deceased’s stolen phone from Nuwahereza. Illustration by Cosmas Arinitwe

Kampala- At round 7am, on August 18, 2012, the Local Council II chairperson of Rwenshanku Parish, Mr Perez Kaberebere, called Detective Corporal Justus Barigye of Bubaare Police Post in Mbarara District.

Mr Kabarebere was reporting a gruesome murder of Mable Kalyeramete, in her late 40s, that had just happened in his area. The deceased’s body was found tied on a pole in her kraal.

As D/Cpl Barigye rushed to the scene, he made calls to the Police Canine Unit to bring in sniffer dogs. D/Cpl Barigye secured the scene first. Then he recorded brief statements from the people who last saw the deceased and those who found the body.

Angus Mugume, then 23 years, the first to see the deceased’s body, told D/Cpl Barigye that he visited the deceased’s home as early as 12:30am, but didn’t find her.

Mugume told the officer that he found the door open, which was so rare. He entered and found the deceased’s property disorganised and her keys abandoned in the room. He picked the keys and opened a room at the boys’ quarter where he found a young girl locked from outside.

The girl told him that the deceased usually locks her inside so that men don’t attack her in the night and then opens for her in the morning, which she didn’t do.

Mugume said he went to the deceased’s kraal to milk her cows. He was done with the second cow and was chasing the third when he landed on the deceased’s body.

He told the detective that Kalyeramete lived with two workers–a man and a girl–since all her children had sought employment in Kampala.
D/Cpl Barigye sought to talk to the second worker, who was identified as Justus Byabakama, but he was told that he had left the home a day before.

Suspicious travel
The detective was curious about Byabakama’s travel. He was told that Byabakama had told them he was to visit his mother in Rubindi and was to return on Sunday.
Byabakama’s movements brought suspicion. Several people at the scene became suspicious of Byamukama’s character. Before the detective could talk to another person, the sniffer dogs were brought in, moved around and ended up at Brenda Akatukunda’s home.

Akatukunda was known to be Byabakama’s friend. Police officers asked Akatukunda about Byabakama. Akatukunda said he had visited him a day before the incident and informed her about his errand.
When she heard of the death of Kalyeramete, she called Byabakama on phone and informed him about what had happened to his boss.

“He switched off his phone. He called back at 11am. I informed him about what people were saying that he killed his boss. He said he wasn’t going to attend the burial before switching off his phone again,” she told D/Cpl Barigye.

D/Cpl Barigye said in his statement that everyone suspects Byabakama could have planned the death of his boss.

“Justus (Byabakama) said he was going to Rubindi at 11am but was sighted at Ekitoma Town Council at around 1pm, which is in the opposite direction to his home in Rubindi,” D/Cpl Barigye stated.

Besides suspicions, no tangible evidence was obtained at the scene. What the investigators could ascertain was that the deceased’s phone and an unknown amount of money had been taken in the attack. Given the sensitivity of the case, Mbarara Police Station called the file and assigned it to D/Cpl Herbert Mbiika.

D/Cpl Moses Mugarura was assigned to track the deceased’s phone. Meanwhile, Byabakama was worried about his fate.

On 23 August, 2012, he contacted his relatives, who took him to the police and he handed himself over. D/Cpl Mbiika had to start afresh by talking to every person who could have any information about the case.

Byabakama in his first statement denied killing his boss. He said the deceased treated him well and was paying him on time for the few months he had worked for her.

D/Cpl Mbiika asked Byabakama to narrate to him where he went and people he met after leaving the deceased’s home on Friday. Byabakama’s story put him miles away from the scene on the fateful day.
The detective talked to Adriano Twesigye, an elder brother to Byabakama, who told him that his young brother had visited on Saturday (August 18) not Friday when he left the boss’ farm.

Byabakama’s mother, Beatrice Tindimutuma, told detectives a terrible history of his son.
“Three years ago, he stole seven bunches of bananas and he escaped from the village.

It is me who paid Shs300,000 to the victims,” Tindimituma said.
Byabakama’s criminal history and the time of his travel gave a gruesome picture of the person. He was detained on murder charges. Print outs of the deceased’s phone didn’t provide any important details.

Phone proof
Detectives continued to search for the truth. On August 25, police made other print outs and found that the deceased’s phone had been inserted in with a new sim card and then switched off.

The sim card registered in the name of Yoram Kamukama had made one call to one Abert Kiiza of Kakooba, Mbarara District. The tracking of Kamukama proved to be in vain. So D/Cpl Mugarura pursued Kiiza who had been called by Kamukama.

It took D/Cpl Mbiika another eight days to trick Kiiza to meet him. D/Cpl Mbiika informed Kiiza that he was involved in a murder case of a woman from whom he robbed a mobile phone.

Kiiza nearly fainted. He told the investigator that he only received a call on that mobile phone number from Esau Mukago not Yoram Kamukama.
D/Cpl Mbiika ordered him to lead them to Mukago. He took police officers to Mukago’s home at Rugongi in Bubaale, Mbarara District.

Unfortunately, the detectives found Mukago had just boarded a boda boda cycle and left to an unknown destination.
Lucky enough, the boda boda rider, who had taken him, was known to nearby residents.
When the rider returned at the stage, detectives asked him to take them where Mukago was.

D/Cpl Mbiika drove the rider and Kiiza to a video hall at Bwizibwera where they found Mukago watching films. Mukago was arrested and driven back to the police station.

D/Cpl Mugarura discovered that Mukago had registered the sim card in a fake name. At police, Mukago told the investigator that the mobile phone they were looking for is in the possession of his brother Yoweri Namara.

He said he inserted his sim card when he was charging his mobile phone at Justus Asiimwe Kayiwa’s shop and made only one call before returning it.

D/Cpl Mbiika was still interested in recovering the robbed phone. He tasked Mukago to lead him to his brother, Namara. Mukago said Namara was at Kidongo village. They moved and waylaid Namara and arrested him.

He was also brought to the police station. After a tedious interrogation, Namara revealed that the deceased’s phone was with his sister, Ruth Nuwahereza in Rwenshanku village in Bubaare. Again D/Cpl Mbiika drove to Nuwahereza’s home where they recovered the phone.

Nuwahereza told D/Cpl Mbiika that her brothers, Mukago and Namara bought the phone for her.
“They told me not to tell anyone about the gift,” she said.

D/Cpl Mbiika also arrested Asiimwe, the shop owner, who frequently visited the suspects at the police station. In the phone print outs, the detectives discovered that on the fateful day, the suspects had communicated with one Abdu Bagambe, a boda boda rider, and Musa Hassan Tumusiime.

Ex-worker implicated
Tumusiime was a herdsman at the deceased’s farm before Byabakama was recruited. The police officer hunted for Bagambe and Tumusiime.

They were arrested and interrogated. The detective was now able to establish how the suspects were able to know that the deceased had large sums of money.

All the seven except Nuwahereza were transferred to Special Investigations Unit (SIU) at Kireka, Wakiso District, for further interrogation.

On August 17, 2011, while in SIU detention centre, Namara asked to make an additional statement. He said he was at his home when his brother, Mukago came with a deal that required a strong person. He told him that they were to attack a woman who had a lot of money. He said Bagambe provided them transport to the area.

“We arrived at 9pm and kept around. At 1am, Mukago called the deceased that her cows were being stolen. When she came out, we grabbed her and covered her mouth with her cloth since she attempted to make an alarm. The others took her to the kraal,” Namara said.

He said he remained in the house searching for money. He said when the money was got, they decided to walk away. He distanced himself to what happened at the murder scene. He admitted that he was paid Shs300,000 as his share.
The file of aggravated robbery and murder against the six was submitted to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and it was sanctioned. The six were taken to court and remanded.

Byabakama set free
However, in the course of investigations, evidence linking Byabakama to the offences was not found. He was released. The other five were prosecuted and convicted.
The five were sentenced to 48 years in jail for murdering Mable Kalyeramete. Court also sentenced them to 23 years in jail for aggravated robbery. Both sentences were to run concurrently.