‘Burundi wasn’t after Kanyamunyu’s girlfriend’

Accused. Matthew Kanyamunyu (left) and girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari appear before the High Court in Kampala recently. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • When asked why he believes the entrance to Malik car bond was the scene of crime, the officer said his confirmation was based on the word of Kanyamunyu, his girlfriend Munwangari and the DPC of Jinja Road Police Station who told him that it was the place where they recovered Akena’s car.

A detective last evening told the High Court in Kampala that it was his suspicion that the Burundian government was not pursuing Matthew Kanyamunyu’s girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari as believed by the accused persons.
Detective sergeant Patrick Alunyu, who was attached to Jinja Road Police Station at the time of the incident in 2016, told trial judge Stephen Mubiru that if indeed the assassins from Burundi had attacked Munwangari, her boyfriend Kanyamunyu should have first taken her to a nearby police station for safety before taking Akena to a health facility.

But instead he took Akena to the hospital after the alleged attack by the assassins with his girlfriend inside the said car, which he said was suspicious.
Detective Alunyu told cour: “In fact, the police would have even helped me to take the sick person to the hospital after knowing that the person whose life was in danger of being assassinated was now safe.”

The detective was responding to a question by justice Mubiru on what he could have done if he was in the shoes of Kanyamunyu faced with two people in danger.
The police officer, had in his testimony on Thursday last week, stated that Kanyamunyu told him that on the fateful day, some Burundian assassins were pursuing his girlfriend and that when they reached Lugogo near Malik car bond, a speeding car blocked them and forced them to make a U-turn, which car he said further blocked them before hearing a gun shot.

Background
The prosecution maintains that Kanyamunyu and his girlfriend on November 12, 2016, on Kampala-Jinja Road high way near Malik car bond opposite Uganda Manufacturers Association main gate, murdered Akena, a children rights activist, after he accidentally dented their car as he reversed.
Earlier, during the cross-examination by defence lawyers MacDosman Kabega, Caleb Alaka and Evans Ochieng, the detective said it would be a lie if someone testified that Akena was shot from Lugogo Game store.
The detective said during the reconstruction of the scene of crime, he zeroed on entrance to Malik car bond, located opposite Uganda Manufacturers Association as the scene of crime where key suspect, Kanyamunyu is believed to have shot Akena from.

When asked why he believes the entrance to Malik car bond was the scene of crime, the officer said his confirmation was based on the word of Kanyamunyu, his girlfriend Munwangari and the DPC of Jinja Road Police Station who told him that it was the place where they recovered Akena’s car.
However, last week, a brother of the deceased, Mr John Paul Nyeko told court that Akena told him how Kanyamunyu had shot him from Game store.