Here is why Magara murder trial has hit a speed bump

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High Court judge Alex Mackay Ajiji was on Thursday (September 18) compelled to adjourn the case in which nine people are accused of kidnapping and murdering Susan Magara.

This was after the prosecution requested for time to verify the authenticity of the birth certificate of Hussein Wasswa, one of the accused persons in the case. 

Chief state attorneys Joseph Kyomuhendo and Sherifah Nalwanga made the request after Wasswa produced the said birth certificate in the court without notice. Wasswa is defending himself over the allegations.

The birth certificate shows that Wasswa was born on January 5, 2002, which implies that he was sixteen years old at the time of his arrest in 2018.

Consequently, Justice Ajiji adjourned the case until October 2 for a further defence hearing.

Under the law, while the age of criminal responsibility is 12 years, Wasswa would have been detained in a juvenile prison until he clocked 18 years or even face trial before the Family and Children Court that would see him detained for only three years in case of a conviction.

Wasswa is also a twin brother to Hassan Kato Miro who is also among the accused persons.

Meanwhile, Justice Ajiji has also ordered the defence lawyers to prepare a list of all their witnesses and the documents which they intend to rely on and serve them on the prosecution to avoid further delay.

Hajara Nakandi, Yusuf Lubega, Mahad Kisalita, Abbas Musa Buvumbo, Abubaker Kyewolwa, Ismail Bukenya, Hassan Kato Miiro and Muzamir Ssali are the other accused persons. They have been on remand since 2018. 

In April this year, the court found that they have a case to answer and were accordingly ordered to defend themselves.

Lawyers Richard Kumbuga, John Kabagambe, Peter Wanda and Zaina Nabukenya represent the accused persons on the state brief.

The case

Susan, the 28-year-old daughter of businessman John Magara, was kidnapped on February 7 2018, along Kabaka Anjagala Road in Mengo, a Kampala suburb, as she drove back to her home about three kilometres away.

Her kidnappers then contacted her family and demanded $1m (about sh3.65b) before they could release her.

Despite the family having delivered $200,000 (about sh700m) to the ransom seekers, Susan Magara was brutally murdered by the ransom seekers and three weeks later her body was recovered from Kigo in Wakiso district on February 27, 2018, where it had been dumped.

The prosecution alleges that the accused and others still at large on February 7, 2018, kidnapped Magara with the intent to procure a ransom for her liberation from the danger of being murdered.

The indictment indicates that Magara was a victim of a ransom scheme hatched by Yakub Byensi, a former Allied Democratic Force (ADF) combatant who hails from Bunyoro, just like Susan and that he was known to her family.

Armed with the information, the suspects, according to the prosecution, started trailing her until they kidnapped her on February 7, 2018.

Following her kidnap, the suspects allegedly first held her at Nakandi’s home in Nateete and later at Bukenya’s home in Konge II in Makindye Division, Kampala, from where her two fingers were chopped off and sent to her family to show them how determined they were to kill her if the ransom money was not paid.

The indictment indicates that the suspects resolved to kill her because releasing her would expose them.

Prosecution says the suspects used part of the money to procure several motor vehicles, land in Buikwe and Luweero districts respectively.