Kagezi murder: Judges sum up evidence for assessors
After months of testimony, the Joan Kagezi murder trial has reached a crucial stage as the High Court sums up the evidence for the court assessor.
The late senior state prosecutor Joan Kagezi. (File photo)
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The International Crimes Division of the High Court has summed up the evidence presented in the murder trial of senior state prosecutor Joan Kagezi for court assessor Judith Tumuhairwe.
The court, presided over by a panel of four justices led by Justice Andrew Bashaija, today (September 9) presented the assessors with key testimonies and exhibits from the trial to help her understand the evidence against the accused and guide them in forming their opinion.
The other members of the panel are Justices Richard Wabwire Wejuli, Joyce Kavuma and Duncan Gaswaga.
Court assessors are ordinarily non-lawyers who sit alongside a judge or panel of judges to assist the court in assessing a case. However, their opinion is not binding on the judge.
The trial ended on Wednesday, September 8, with a senior Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) officer, who was convicted of aggravated defilement and rape, testifying in defence of suspect Nasur Abdallah Mugonole. The officer told court that Mugonole was not involved in the murder of Kagezi.
Shafik Abdul Zziwa alias Green, who describes himself as a UPDF Major, is serving his sentence at Murchison Bay Prison in Luzira. He told the International Crimes Division of the High Court that Mugonole was with him at Old Kampala Police Station at the time Kagezi was shot dead in Kiwatule, a Kampala suburb, as she drove home with her children.
Zziwa, who said he has known Mugonole for about 25 years, testified that the incident occurred on March 30, 2015, between 6:00pm and 9:00pm, when Mugonole was not at the scene of crime.
Mugonole is jointly charged with John Kibuuka alias Musa, and John Masajjage alias Brian Mubiru, over Kagezi’s murder.
The lawyer representing the victims (children of the senior prosecutor), Sylvia Namawejje, was also present in court.
The accused persons, who allegedly trailed the deceased on motorcycles, are Kibuuka, who allegedly fired the bullet that killed Kagezi; Masajjage, who was allegedly riding the motorcycle on which Kibuuka was travelling; and Mugonole, who was allegedly riding with Kisekka, who fired a bullet into the air as they fled the scene.
However, Kisekka is now a convict after he pleaded guilty to participating in the crime and implicated the three men in the murder. He is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence at Luzira Prison.
‘Case to answer’
On July 3, 2026, the judges unanimously ruled that the accused persons were directly involved in the killing of Kagezi and had a case to answer.
They were subsequently ordered to defend themselves. In their respective testimonies, given on oath, they denied the allegations and instead implicated the former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura and senior police officer Nixon Agasirwe, alleging that the two were behind Kagezi’s murder.
The assailants were armed with two guns and three magazines containing 90 live rounds of ammunition. After the killing, they allegedly sought the assistance of a witch doctor in Kayunga in an attempt to suppress the case, but they were arrested 10 years after the murder.
Agasirwe, Minaana’s arrest
Agasirwe was arrested on May 21 last year after 43-year-old Kisekka told the court that a senior government official named “Nixon” allegedly financed Kagezi’s murder.
Meanwhile, Minaana, who was arrested in 2017 over the Kagezi murder and later released, was re-arrested on June 24 last year by Criminal Investigations Directorate detectives at his home in Galilaya, Kayunga district.
Investigators discovered that Minaana operated a garage about 600 meters from the crime scene, which sources allege may have served as a surveillance or planning point.
At the time of Kagezi’s killing, Minaana, who joined the Police in 2007, was a field operative with the Flying Squad and worked closely with Agasirwe.
The trial of Agasirwe and Minaana is yet to start at the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala.
Earlier investigations conducted jointly by the then Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, now known as Defence Intelligence and Security, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United Kingdom’s Scotland Yard flagged the suspicious presence of several known police operatives at the scene on the night Kagezi was killed.