Suspect spends 22 years in prison without trial

Alex Twinomugisha was arrested on October 19, 1999 on allegations of murdering a person, whose details are not readily available in public domain in Makerere areas in Kampala.
He was eventually charged before Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court in the city centre with murder and sent on remand to Luzira prison.

Information that this publication has obtained, indicated that since his charge was of a capital nature, the then presiding magistrate, merely read for him the particulars of his case without giving him a copy of the charge sheet.
His current lawyer, Mr Geoffrey Turyamusiima, says ever since 1999 when he was arraigned before court, his file has only been called twice, legally known as “mention” and that ever since then, it has mysteriously disappeared.

Sources privy to this case last evening told this publication that Twinomugisha’s murder case file was among the many files that got lost in the process of being transferred from Wandegeya Police Station to the CID headquarters in Kibuli for further management.
Daily Monitor could not, however, independently verify the allegation.
Further, sources revealed that Twinomugisha’s file was initially handled by the late Joan Kagezi.
Earlier that same year of his arrest, Twinomugisha had been charged with the murder of Tooro Prince Happy Kijanangoma and Stephen Kaganda, a guard, on March 25, 1999.

On this second murder case file, Twinomugisha was jointly charged with former Tooro Kingdom prime minister, John Sanyu Katuramu, and his nephew, Patrick Kwezi, who was accused of transmitting cash to the killers.
As of the year 2000, Twinomugisha, a former UPDF child soldier, found himself battling two murder case files concurrently.
The file where he was jointly charged with Katuramu was fast tracked and the trio was found guilty of the murder of Kijanangoma in 2001 by then High Court judge, John Bosco Katutsi.

READ: Court of Appeal quashes murder convict's 50-year sentence orders retrial

All the three were sentenced to death by hanging.
However, they got a lease of their life when they benefited from the Susan Kigula Supreme Court landmark judgment that saw their death sentence commuted to 20 years imprisonment after court ruled that death sentence was no longer mandatory.
The 20-year jail sentence lapsed on September 11, 2021 but Twinomugisha remained in detention. 
The reason was that he had a pending murder file which had never been committed to the High Court for trial, 22 years later.
Since Katuramu and his nephew did not have any pending charges against them, they were left to return to their respective homes by the prisons.

But in his application that he filed before the High Court, Civil Division in Kampala on December 17, Twinomugisha is seeking to be unconditionally released.
“My fears became real when I was not released on that date pursuant to the pending criminal charges in Buganda Road Magistrates Court criminal case no. 620 of 2000 pending determination in this court, which are the subject of this application,” he states in his application now before the High Court.
He added: “I have learnt, rather surprisingly, that the said file is not existent at the Buganda Magistrates Court or at the Directorate of Public Prosecutions headquarters or anywhere at all.”

When Daily Monitor reached out to the office of the DPP on why they have taken 22 years without prosecuting Twinomugisha’s matter to its logical conclusion, Ms Jacquelyn Okui, the spokesperson, said they were tracing for the said file.
“Committal of suspects to the High Court for trial by the office of the DPP is usually done upon the completion of investigations into capital cases by the police, who then forward the case files to our office for that purpose,” Ms Okui said by telephone yesterday.
“We are tracing for the case file in respect of the matter to take note of its status and thereafter, take appropriate action,” she added.

Mr Turyamusiima last evening explained that the reason why they are currently in court is to challenge their client’s continuous detention without committal to the High Court for trial beyond 360 days. This he says, contravenes his constitutional right to personal liberty and fair hearing.
The lawyer also avers that this entails his client to the remedy of unconditional release provided for in Section 15 (3) c of the Human Rights Enforcement Act.
Twinomugisha appeared before the High Court on Monday to have his application heard but presiding judge, Justice Musa Ssekaana was unwell. 
The hearing of his application was then deferred to February 9 next year.

The law
Twinomugisha is seeking court’s intervention to compel the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to use her powers under Article 120 (3) a & b of the Constitution to discontinue the said proceedings for non-existent of the file in all the offences and also for failure for the last 22 years to commit his file to the High Court to stand trial. “As the matter stands now, I am still kept and detained in prison after 22 years on remand, only on a prison remand warrant,” Twinomugisha states in his application now pending hearing before Justice Musa Ssekaana.