LDU pleads guilty to killing UBC journalist

A Local Defence Unit (LDU) personnel, who was arrested five months ago on accusations of killing former Uganda Journalists Association president Robert Kagolo has confessed to the offence.
Kagolo was shot dead at his late brother’s home in Kasengejje Village, Wakiso District, in April. He was a journalist at Star FM Radio, a subsidiary of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC).

He was shot dead after a scuffle with an LDU personnel.
Col Sam Mugyenyi, the chairperson of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) 1st Division command at Kakiri Barracks, yesterday set September 28 to sentence the killer.

Col Mugyenyi said the convict, Rashid Mamuli, told the court martial that he shot and killed Kagolo.
Mamuli said he was deployed with a colleague identified as Opiyo to guard the house and property of the late Sam Musiitwa as family members had gone to burial.
He said in the evening of the fateful day, Kagolo drove a car and knocked the gate and entered, which forced him (Mamuli) to cock his gun and that when one person came out running towards him, he shot him in the process.

Mamuli, a personnel attached to Wakiso battalion, revealed that on the fateful day, he did not have orders to shoot and kill, and that he did not intend to kill a person.
“After the shooting, I am the one who told them to carry the person to the car and take him to the hospital,” he said, adding that he did not even know the person he shot until he was told by his superiors.
He made the confession before the seven- member panel of the Division Army Court chaired by Col Mugyenyi.
This was the second appearance before the court after he admitted to the murder charges in May.
During cross-examination, Mamuli said he shot to defend himself.

Asked why he defied orders of his superiors not to shoot, Mamuli explained that he was in a difficult situation.
Mamuli’s confession came after Mr Willy Gantungo, an elder brother of the deceased journalist, told the army court that Kagolo was shot dead by the LDU personnel as they returned children from the burial of their late father, his brother.
Mr Gantungo testified that after the shooting, he rushed his young brother to a nearby clinic where he was pronounced dead and that he reported the matter to police in Wakiso.