Ssebuwufu closes his defence in Pine Car Bond murder case

City car dealer Muhammed Ssebuwufu, the prime suspect in the murder of businesswoman Betty Katusabe, yesterday closed his defence submissions, telling court he is not the tenant of the car depot where the deceased was killed in 2015.
Ssebuwufu told the trial judge Flavia Senoga Anglin that the car bond in question was in the neighbourhood and its tenancy agreement was in the name of Samuel Kiwanuka alias Damage, who is also a car dealer.
“My lord, that office at Plot 6 where the tragic incident allegedly happened was not mine. It was for Damage. I owned plot 5 and 7 which I hire at Shs15m per month from the registered owner,” Mr Ssebuwufu submitted.
He said the deceased’s attorneys Annet Kobusigye and a one Amon attempted to extort Shs100m from him and when he refused to give them the money, they opted fabricate the murder charges against him.
Prosecution contends that Ssebuwufu and his co-accused on October 21, 2015 at Pine Car Bond on Lumumba Avenue in Kampala murdered Katusabe and robbed her of her mobile phone worth Shs300, 000.
During the same hearing yesterday, Ssebuwufu’s co-accused also defended themselves against the charges.
Mr Godfrey Kayiza, in an unsworn defence, said he is a mechanic in Kasubi, a Kampala suburb and he was already in police custody when Katusabe was murdered.
He said he was arrested in connection to missing spare parts of a vehicle he was repairing, which were stolen by his colleagues at his workshop.
He said when he failed to pay Shs2m to Special Police Constable (SPC) Faisal Katende of the Flying Squad Unit, the officer maliciously added him on the charge sheet for murder.
The third suspect, Philip Mirambe, said he is a car broker in Kampala who could sometimes conduct businesses at Pine Car Bond, but has never participated in any murder.
“My lord I had no reason for murdering a woman I did not even know. In fact on the day that woman was allegedly murdered I was not at the scene as I was at Mr Smart’s Car Bond waiting for customers,” Mr Kayiza said.
Another suspect, Mr Stephen Lwanga, told court that he is a special hire taxi driver who was asked by Mr Ssebuwufu to drive Katusabe and police officers to Central Police Station (CPS).
“On that dreadful day, I drove Katusabe and others to CPS.
However, Katusabe and another man refused to leave my car. I decided to drive them back to Pine Car Bond where I had picked them,” he testified
“It is not true that my car was used to kidnap Katusabe from her home in Bwebajja on Entebbe Road. I do not assign anyone the duty of driving my car, so allegations that the suspect, Paul Tasigika, drove the deceased using my car are false,” Mr Lwanga added.
He said he was at home and his car was in the garage at the time the prosecution alleges it was used to transport the deceased.
The trial was adjourned to January 7 for further hearing.