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Susan Magara murder suspects ask court to halt trial over alleged torture
Torture victims. Susan Magara murder suspects appear before Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court on September 4, 2018. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- Lubega contested the testimony by Mr Frank Nyakairu, an operative attached to the CMI who said he (Lubega) had voluntarily confessed to the crime and gave inside information and details about his co-accused.
Suspects undergoing trial for the 2018 kidnap and murder of Susan Magara, a cashier at Bwendero Dairy Farm (BDF) have asked the trial judge to halt court proceedings, accusing security operatives of subjecting them to torture during evidence gathering after their arrest.
The nine suspects are ; Yususf Lubega, Hussein Wasswa, Muzamiru Ssali, Hajara Nakandi, Abubaker Kyewolwa, Mahad Kisalita, Hassan Kato Miiro, Ismail Bukenya and Musa Abbas Buvumbo through their lawyers told the trial judge Alex Ajiji that in order to extract confessions from them, the joint -task security teams comprising police, the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and Joint Anti-Terrorist Task Force (JATT) subjected them to torture.
Lubega contested the testimony by Mr Frank Nyakairu, an operative attached to the CMI who said he (Lubega) had voluntarily confessed to the crime and gave inside information and details about his co-accused.
“I will not get a fair hearing. The witness (Nyakairu) tortured me; he kicked me, I have pain in the chest and in the back. I can no longer lift something weighing 10 kilogrammes. I was forced to confess in order to save my life,” Lubega told the court.
They asked the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to provide court with the forms on which police surgeons examined them to be used as proof in their torture claims.
However, the judge was prompted to adjourn the case to November 13 after the suspects’ lawyers were also unable to produce an independent report from African Centre for Torture Victims.
In his testimony, Mr Nyakairu told court that Lubega confessed to him that Yakub Byensi who is still at large masterminded the mission together with Hakim Lugolobi who secured mobile lines used. The two fled and got lost in a forest in Katosi where the suspects had bought a big chunk of land using ransom that was paid to them, according to police.
The witness explained that Hajara Nakandi always kept guard of Magara before cutting off her two fingers which were sent to the Magara family in a parcel and later used the victim’s car to transport and dump her body in Kitiko.
Mr Nyakairu told court that other suspects were mainly spies sent to gather information about Magara's family members during the period when Byensi was asking for the ransom.
Prosecution case
The prosecution led by Ms Irene Nakimbugwe and Mr Joseph Kyomuhendo states that the suspects in jail and others still at large on February 7, 2018 kidnapped Magara with intent to procure a ransom or benefit from her liberation from the danger of being murdered.
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