Missing killer gun complicates Akena shooting investigations

Kampala. The search for the gun that killed Kenneth Akena Watmon has proved elusive for police officers investigating the case, multiple sources say, and questions are already being raised as to whether the failure to recover the gun will frustrate the case.
The police investigating officers have intensified the search for the gun and they on Thursday night picked up two of Mr Matthew Kanyamunyu brothers – Joseph and Moses – reportedly in the hope that this would give them a headway in the search for the gun.
Telephone call printouts obtained by the police show that the two brothers kept in close touch with their sibling, Mr Kanyamunyu, who was arrested with his girlfriend Cynthia Munagira over the shooting incident at Lugogo, Kampala.
Akena is believed to have been shot around Lugogo in Kampala at nightfall on Saturday, November 12, after a clash with Mr Kanyamunyu, who was driving with his girlfriend, Ms Munwangari. Mr Kanyamunyu then drove Akena to Victoria hospital, and then to Nakasero Hospital, where Akena underwent emergency operation. Akena was then transferred to Norvik Hospital for further management but he died in the morning of Sunday, November 13.
During postmortem at Mulago hospital, a bullet was recovered from Akena’s body. But the killer gun is still missing.
Unverified information we received from a source close to the investigation shows that the ballistics expert who examined the killer bullet currently has inconclusive information because he needs a gun with which to match the bullet. The police has also not found any cartridges or anything else related to the gun from the scene of crime, which was not secured immediately after the incident and must have been tampered with.
With the killer gun missing, no gun powder found on the suspects’ clothes and no blood samples, police sources say fears are mounting that it may be hard to secure a conviction. A lawyer told this newspaper that the prosecution would then have to rely on circumstantial evidence to prove its case, which he said could prove to be “very hard”.
One of the lawyers for the Kanyamunyu brothers confirmed to Sunday Monitor that the police on Friday searched the homes of Joseph and Moses, who had been picked up the previous night.
The search at Joseph’s home in Kansanga in Kampala, the lawyer said, was done in the presence of Ms Edith Byanyima, his aunt, while Moses’ home in Luzira was searched without a family member in attendance. No gun was recovered from either of the homes.
After searching Joseph’s house, Ms Byanyima said the police “left behind a search certificate after not finding anything.”
Sources close to the investigation say the police are pursuing a lead that when Joseph went to Nakasero Hospital to see his brother Matthew, he could have picked up the killer gun from him and taken it with him.
This newspaper learnt from workers at Nakasero Hospital that on Saturday night after Matthew delivered Akena in critical condition, Joseph went into the hospital and spoke with Kanyamunyu “briefly and then he left”.
“Joseph does not deny going to see Matthew at Nakasero hospital,” Joseph’s lawyer said. “Matthew called a number of people that night and his brother would naturally go to see what had happened.”
Asked about the search at Joseph and Moses’ homes, police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi said: “We picked some material that could aid our investigations. Whatever we picked is for the police. We are examining it and if we find it’s not related to our investigations, they will be release on bond.”
For the Kanyamunyu family, it has been a tragic story in the recent past. Joel, another brother, was buried on October 28, Matthew is the prime suspect in the death of Akena, while Joseph and Moses were also picked up by the police to assist in the investigations.
Matthew’s girlfriend, Ms Munwangari, an asylum seeker from Burundi, whose stepmother was assassinated and brother shot several times, is also in police custody over Akena’s shooting.
Stories of guns and deaths intricately link up the personalities linked to the Saturday night fatal shooting of Akena at Lugogo, Kampala.
By press time, sources said the two Kanyamunyu brothers had been transferred to Special Investigations Unit in Kireka.

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“We picked [from Mr Kanyamunyu’s brothers Joseph and Moses’ homes] some material that could aid our investigations. Whatever we picked is for the police. We are examining it and if we find it’s not related to our investigations, they will be release on bond” Andrew Felix Kawesi, Police spokesperson.

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