Missing city medic’s expectant lover found dead

On June 15 last year, Roline Biira, a 25-year-old businesswoman from Buziga- Mawanga zone in Makindye division, Kampala, was reported missing.

After a frantic search, her boyfriend, Brian Mayanja, alerted the family and the matter was reported to Buziga and Ggaba Police the following day — on June 16.

A case file vide CRB: 927/2024 of a missing person was opened and later referred to the detectives at the Kabalagala Police Station.

The search for Biira intensified.

Weeks became months. The search delivered nothing tangible. Biira’s whereabouts remained unknown. Then pain engulfed the family.

And counter-accusations dominated the narratives between Biira’s family and Mayanja, a 36-year-old medic based at C-Care International Hospital Kampala (IHK).

According to detectives, some family members pointed fingers at Mayanja and demanded his arrest.

On June 18, Police in Kabalagala arrested Mayanja and detained him for some days before he was released on bond.

In his initial statement to the Police, Mayanja denied knowing Biira despite the fact that her relatives confirmed they were close friends, adding that the two had sired a child, and that, at the time of her disappearance, she was four months pregnant.

New twist

With Biira’s whereabouts unknown and the key suspect out on Police bond, the family gave up until detectives got a new plot of evidence.

The new intelligence led to the arrest of Moses Ssendagire, a self-styled land broker from Busabala, Makindye-Ssabagabo, Wakiso district on February 15.

“Upon his arrest, we subjected Ssendagire to a thorough interrogation and in the process, he (Ssendagire) pinned his friend, Mayanja, in the case, claiming everything in connection to Biira’s disappearance revolved around him,” a detective told New Vision.

Police subsequently arrested Mayanja on March 3, 2025.

Dr Brian Mayanja (right) with his driver, Moses Ssendagire, at Kabalagala Police Station upon their arrest.

Upon interrogation, Mayanja confessed in a statement to Police that he allegedly killed his pregnant girlfriend, Biira.

Mayanja added in his statement to Police that he allegedly killed Biira with the “help” of Ssendagire.

“We have also arrested three more suspects including two female witchdoctors from Kisoga trading centre in Mukono district to help with investigations,” a detective told New Vision.

Body exhumed

Detectives added that after the interrogation, on Wednesday, March 5, Mayanja, who appeared remorseful, offered to direct Police to the place where he allegedly dumped Biira’s body. Ssendagire also accompanied the investigation team.

The investigating officers from Kabalagala Police Station, in collaboration with their counterparts in Mukono, were led by the duo (Mayanja and Ssendagire) to a village called Bbanda, situated on the Kisoga-Nkokonjeru-Nyenga road, claiming it is where they had allegedly dumped Biira’s body.

However, when they reached the scene, the residents revealed that the only unknown body of a woman that had ever been dumped in their area was in 2022, yet Biira is said to have disappeared in June 2024.

Based on the controversial statements by the suspects, the investigating officers decided to also trace the said unknown body of the female adult that residents said was dumped in their village in 2022.

Through the area Police in charge of Kisoga Police, Wantoni and Mukono, Police established that Mayanja and Ssendagire were taking them on a fishing expedition.

Police further interrogated Mayanja about the matter. In his additional statement to Police, he said he had dumped Biira’s body in Lugazi, Buikwe district.

Upon reaching Lugazi, the investigating officers from Kabalagala, working with their counterparts at Lugazi Police Station, cross-checked with Kawolo Hospital morgue attendants, where records showed that the body in question had already been claimed by Haji Hassan Musa’s family, which came from the eastern part of Uganda in Bugiri district.

Based on the same information, Police contacted their counterparts in Bugiri district to ascertain the narrative.

The detectives also travelled to Bugiri on Thursday, March 6.

Upon reaching Bugiri and interfacing with Musa’s family, detectives established that a woman and her unborn baby were “mistakenly” buried at the burial ground.

“The family buried the woman and her baby (foetus) suspecting that it was their daughter, Shakirah Kagoya, who went missing two years ago during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, when Kagoya appeared at their home, they informed Police about the matter,” a detective said.

“Upon discovering that they had actually buried a different person, Kagoya’s family, led by her father Haji Hassan Musa, reported the matter to Bugiri Police Station, where they recorded statements.

However, Police did not rush to exhume the two bodies as further efforts were being made to ascertain the true relatives of the deceased,” the detective said.

Police detectives added: “Luckily, when the scene of crime officers from Lugazi printed out the pictures that were taken from the scene in Lugazi, before the Bugiri family took the body for burial, Biira’s relatives recognised her.”

Police detectives (left) together with late Roline Biira’s relative at in Bbanda, Mukono district, where Mayanja took them saying it is the place he had dumped Biira’s body.

“Our determination and energy have not been in vain; we have finally found Biira’s remains and that of her baby. So, after formalising the legal process, we shall take them back to our ancestral burial grounds in Nyakakindo village, Kabimba parish, Kitabu sub-county in Kasese district for burial,” Biira’s relative, Moses Bwambale, who is also the chairperson of the Bakonzo community living in Kampala, said.

Bwambale added that Biira was a double orphan, born to the late Augustine Kule Balyatire and Federeesi Itungu of Nyakakindo village, Kabimba parish, Kitabu subcounty in Kasese district.

Cultural conditions

Before Biira’s body is transported to Kasese, Bwambale said Musa’s family in Bugiri has sent tough cultural conditions for the family to fulfil such as delivering a cow, a female sheep, two hens, 50kg of rice, drinking water and a “heavy” envelop for the sheikh who will preside over the cultural and traditional practices that underpinned the body exhumation process and cleansing of the curse.

Musa said in their Busoga tradition, a dead body belonging to a different family cannot be retrieved from their burial ground without fulfilling these requirements.

“Each item has a different role to play as far as Busoga culture, norms and rituals are concerned,” he said.

One of Biira’s relatives, Benet Sabuni Bwambale, said: “Besides the Busoga cultural conditions, Police officers have also told us that the two bodies shall be kept in the City Mortuary at Mulago Hospital for some time to enable a Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test intended to prove the paternity of both Biira and the baby (foetus).”

Police’s findings

In his statement to Police, Mayanja, who detectives said is a key suspect in Biira’s murder, denied that he is the father of the deceased’s children — a five-year-old boy and the foetus.

The deputy spokesperson of the Kampala Metropolitan, Luke Oweyesigyire, said: “Ongoing inquiries include the verification of the post-mortem report and burial details, DNA test to confirm the body’s identity, as well as retrieval of the Mukono case file for further evidence. Dr Mayanja’s initial release and failure to disclose information suggest premeditation.”

“Call records indicate Mayanja personally picked up the victim before her disappearance. Ssendagire said he later found Mayanja in his car with the Biira’s body. The suspects also visited a traditional healer, Auma Zaina, allegedly to appease the victim’s spirit. She has been arrested to assist with investigations,” he said.

Oweyesigyire added: “The suspects admitted to killing Biira and dumping her body in Kisoga, Bbanda in Mukono district. Investigators visited the crime scene, confirming that a decomposed body had been found and taken to Kawolo Hospital mortuary. A witness, John Kyambadde, verified this information.”

On his part, the Police spokesperson of Kampala Metropolitan, Patrick Onyango, said Mayanja and his friend, Ssendagire, have been charged with murder of Biira.

“They were charged this week with murder of Biira, who was Mayanja’s girlfriend. They were remanded to Luzira Prison and they will appear back on April 4,” Onyango said.

According to the recently released 2024 Police Crime Report, a total of 183 murder cases were linked to domestic violence.