Crime

Suspects in the Katumba shootings have been handed over to the High Court.

The suspects were initially charged with five counts of attempted murder, including General Katumba Wamala, his bodyguard Sergeant Khalid Kuboit, and Boniface Mucunguzi.

The Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court has referred eight individuals involved in the attempted assassination of General Katumba Wamala to the High Court, where they will face trial on 30 charges.

Yusuf Siraje Nyanzi, Hussein Sserubula, Muhammad Kagugube, Sirimani Kisambira, Abudullah Aziz Ramadhan, Dunka, Kamada Walusimbi, Habib Ramadhan Marjan, and Huzaifah Wampa are the eight people selected.

On Thursday afternoon, the suspects on remand at Luzira prison appeared through zoom before the court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Ponsiano Odwori. Doreen Elima, the State Attorney, then submitted an amended charge sheet, which included six more cases including attempted murder and aggravated robbery at Cheap General Hardware in Nansana, bringing the total number of accusations against the accused to 30.

Elima informed the court that the investigation into the situation is complete, and she also presented the court with a 17-page document detailing the case summary and the evidence the Director of Public Prosecutions plans to utilize to charge the accused with the offenses against them.

The Magistrate, however, refused to allow the accused to enter a plea because the new allegations were capital in nature, stating that they would only do so before the High Court, which has authority to trial them.
As a result, Odwori remanded them in custody until their case could be heard by the High Court.

Geoffrey Turyamusiima, the defense counsel, had no objections to the committal, but warned press that when suspects are taken to the High Court for trial, they usually spend a long period on remand before their cases are resolved.

Turyamusiima, on the other hand, was hopeful that because the High Court began hearing criminal cases on a daily basis rather than in sessions, his clients would be tried soon, or that they would pursue the matter further.

The accused are charged with terrorism, ten counts of murder, 12 counts of attempted murder, aggravated robbery, rendering assistance to a terrorist group, the Allied Democratic Forces, financing terrorism activities, and belonging to a terrorist organization, according to the updated charge sheet.

The suspects were initially charged with five counts of attempted murder, including General Katumba Wamala, his bodyguard Sergeant Khalid Kuboit, and Boniface Mucunguzi.

Brenda Nantongo, the daughter of General Katumba Wamala, and his driver Sargent Haruna Kayondo were killed in a shooting on June 1, 2021 near Kisota road in Kisaasi, a Kampala city neighborhood.

With the exception of Nyanzi and Sserubula, the Director of Public Prosecutions Jane Frances Abodo filed 18 new accusations against all of the defendants in October 2021. The charges included allegations that on May 29, 2019, while at Cheap General Hardware Nansana in Wakiso district, the defendants, along with others currently at large, unlawfully caused property damage.

They shot and killed Jimmy Atukuru, Frank Anania, Abaho Frank Mutsinda, and Amim Bugembe.

The accused also stole 385 million Shillings from Tedrin Nalule, the cashier at Cheap General Hardware, and murdered Burton Okoti on April 27, 2019, at City Shoppers Supermarket Kanyanya, Mpererwe, Kawempe division in Kampala district, according to the state.

According to the authorities, after killing Okoti, the accused stole 2.2 million Shillings from Precious Kayesu and another 4.5 million Shillings from Aisha Nakafeero, as well as attempting to murder Jalia Nantambi on the same day and at the same location.

The defendants are also accused of murdering five people at Denovo Bakery Kalerwe in Kawempe division, Kampala district, on September 16th, 2017, including two special police constables Hussein Mubiru and Moses Kalungi, as well as Angello Nantongo, Everest Hakizza, and Edward Ssenyonzi.

According to the DPP’s office, the accused took 34.7 million Shillings from Nawal Nakatudde at Denovo Bakery before attempting to murder her.

Furthermore, between March 2015 and June 2021, the accused persons and those still at large provided financial support to Hussein Lubwama alias Master to the commission, while in various locations in Kampala, Luweero, Kasese, and various locations in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

On the other hand, according to the summary of the evidence the DPP intends to use, which our reporter has seen, police discovered various things linking the accused persons to the crime or the scene during searches of their residences. Two AK-47 rifles, a pistol, ammo, motorcycles, hoods, toy pistols, helmets, ropes, sim cards, mobile phone caps, knives, compact disks with Arabic language audio recordings, literature, and other similar goods are among the items confiscated.

The materials were sent to the DPP for transcription and translation into English. Examination and analysis revealed that all of the materials discovered were either intelligence manuals or instructions on how to make local improvised bombs, according to the DPP (explosives).

The guns used in the crimes were examined and found to have been used in the November 2016 murders of Major Muhammad Kiggundu and his bodyguard Sergeant Steven Mukasa, and that the pistol recovered had been assigned to the late Corporal Erau Kenneth, who was the bodyguard to the late Police Spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi, and that it had been stolen when the duo was gunned down with Godfrey Mambewa on March 17th 2017.

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