Kiruhura murders: Suspects plead not guilty

Ms Maureen Nayebare, 18 years old and a student, witnessed the murder of her grandfather, Daniel Karuhanga on the night of 16th August 2013 at about 2 am.

She told court that after the murder, the assailant locked them inside the house and drove off using the family car and shortly after they apparently heard somebody talking behind the house.

During the cross-examination, Miss Nayebare confessed that she did not hear exactly what that person said but that it was a male voice talking and that it appeared the person was talking on phone, as no one was replying to him.

Suspects
On account of this revelation, the head of the police Cyber Crime Unit was tasked to track down phone calls that were made in that vicinity the night of the murders.

Four persons were arrested as a result of their phone communications and these were James Asiimwe, Mattew Mugooha, also known as Juju, Amon Twabagye, also known as Bujoro Fred and Fred Nuwagaba.

Investigations
James Asiimwe and Juju denied the charges before court but admitted knowing each other and communicating on phone a number of times. Both denied knowing Daniel Karuhanga.

Asiimwe told court that he was a simple cattle-keeper and on the night in question he was residing in Kiruhura and he admitted owning a phone.

Juju, who had retired from the army a few years earlier and was sickly, gave sworn evidence and told court that on the night in question, he spent it at his father-in-law’s home. And his evidence and alibi was corroborated by the sworn testimony of his wife who was with him.

Twabagye gave sworn evidence and told court that he was a cattle-keeper, cultivator and driver, and a resident of Kiruhura District.

He vehemently denied committing the offences he was accused of and instead told court that on the night of Friday 16th August 2013, he was in Ibanda District where he had been contracted to carry sand and stones for constructing road trenches and drainages on the Ibanda-Kamwenge Road.

He told court that he left Kiruhura District on 5th August 2013 and that it was a blatant lie that on 16th August 2013, he drove a Toyota Premio and met Juju and that he stole Daniel Karuhanga’s vehicle. He was arrested on 4th September 2013 from his workplace in Ibanda.

Twabagye denied knowing any of the family members of the late Karuhanga or ever interacting with them. He admitted communicating by phone with Juju and this communication was in respect to the delivery of bricks, sand, cement and some iron sheets.

Tortured
Twabagye told court he was on 16th September 2013, while in Kampala, tortured by police officers. He was stripped naked, tied upside down, and beaten by two groups of security officers.

As a result of the beating, he started passing blood in urine and because of this he was admitted in Mulago Hospital for one month.

The accused told court that he was born in Kiruhura and that his home is about five miles from Karuhanga’s home and that the deceased was a well-known person in the area.

He acknowledged seeing James Asiimwe in Kiruhura. Twabagye totally disowned the recorded account of events narrated by Asiimwe in the alleged reconstruction of the crime scene.

He however told court that he studied with Juju at Kashwa Primary School and that they were friends.

Twabagye’s statement was corroborated by another sworn evidence of Emmanuel Amupurira, his brother and employer. Amupurira told court he employed Twabagye to drive his lorry and got a contract to ferry building materials in Ibanda and indeed Twabagye was deployed in Ibanda on the day in question, up to the date of his arrest.

Another workmate testified that he used to sleep with Juju in the same room and was adamant that from 14th August 2013 up to the date of his arrest, Juju never left Ibanda, not even at night.

Fred Nuwagaba, a resident of Kiruhura District, came to Ankole from Rwanda in 2005 to look for work.
At the time of his arrest, Nuwagaba was working for a one John Kaitare.

He told court he was a herdsman and denied killing anybody.
On the day in question, Nuwagaba told court he was at his workplace, looking after cattle and did not go anywhere the night Karuhanga and his workers were killed.

Nuwagaba confessed that when he came to Uganda he did not have an entry permit as he did not enter through the official border points.
He told court that when he came to Uganda he changed his names from Niyamwegabo Duedanta to Fred Nuwagaba as the former name was difficult for many people in Uganda to pronounce.

He admitted owning a mobile phone and often borrowing airtime from the mobile telephone service provider. His Rwandese national identity card and the receipt for the purchase of the mobile phone were recovered during a police search of his place of abode.

And during the search, the police picked only one of his gumboots as part of the forensic evidence but deliberately and controversially left the other one behind. Was it at this point that the investigators resorted to fabricating evidence in this high profile case?

Next; Recovery of the forensic evidence