Kirumira murder suspect claims he confessed under duress

One of the suspects accused of murdering former police boss Muhammad Kirumira and his female friend Resty Nalinya February 27 told court that he confessed to the crime under duress to security operatives.

Led by his lawyer Zimbe Zefania, 50-year-old carpenter Abubakar Kalungi claimed that “security operatives threatened to behead him if he made any resistance in signing various documents accepting the crime.

Further defending himself, Kalungi who is a father of eight and resident in Ndejje-Kibutika, Wakiso District, narrated his arrest in the mid-western Uganda district of Buliisa where he had been taken by a client to roof a house.

“Non-uniform men arrived and arrested whoever was around and asked who Kalungi was. They saw an energetic man whom they asked the same question and I told them, it was me thus pushing me to the ground and firing two bullets just near my head,” Kalungi said on Monday.

“They further asked me what I had gone to do at Buliisa and I told them roofing. They then chained my hands and legs as they also covered my head with a mask,” he added.

Additionally, court heard that throughout their travel, Kalungi was beaten by men who he only heard calling themselves Sam, Kule, Simon and Hitira.

On Monday, court also heard that a search was done at Kalungi’s house in Wakiso and at his mother’s home in Mpigi where nothing was discovered thus driving him back to CMI in Kampala.

“When we got back from Mpigi, the security operatives kept asking me if I knew Kirumira and I told them I did not know him nor have I ever met him. They pierced my finger, cut me with razors while kicking me to name the killers but I kept telling them I did not know,” Kalungi said before he broke down.

Kalungi also told court that he was one night handcuffed with a police officer who he was asked to pin as the murderer. Consequently, Kalungi alleges that, he was then forced to sign on documents by former assistant inspector of Jinja Road police station Steven Walimba. However, he did not comply “since his hands were swollen and bleeding.”

Court heard that during Kalungi’s arrest, Nalinya’s name was never mentioned and he only got to know about it while he was first brought to court.

The trial Judge Margret Mutonyi adjourned the matter to March 13 for submission.

Prosecution led by Thomas Jatiko states that on September 8, 2018 at about 8:00pm in Bulenga, Wakiso District, Kalungi and Mwebe with others still at large with malice aforethought used a gun to murder ASP Kirumira and Nalinya who were driving in a Saloon car belonging to Kirumira. 

Kirumira and Nalinya were then rushed to Lubaga and Mulago hospitals respectively from where they were pronounced dead. 

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