Police on the spot as mother seeks justice for girl killed by taxi

Esther Nassuna, a mother of seven, is seeking justice after her 14-year-old daughter, Annet Babirye, who was vending bananas in order to enable her raise fees for a tailoring course, was knocked down by a reckless taxi driver and dragged for over 100 metres in Bulamu, on the Gayaza-Kasangati road. Babirye succumbed to her injuries five days after the accident. However, her mother’s pursuit for justice seems compromised after the Police, whose duty is to ensure the culprits face the law, are instead pushing her to enter an out-of-court settlement with the culprits. She told New Vision that this plot is a well-calculated cover-up for the driver, who is still on the run.

Had it not been for the reckless driver of a taxi registration number UAR 388M that caused the death of 14-year-old Annet Babirye, she would now be in a vocational school studying a tailoring course.

On February 4, Babirye, who was vending bananas on the Gayaza-Kasangati road, was knocked down by a speeding taxi at Bulamu. She was dragged for almost 100 metres along the tarmac, sustaining severe injuries, before the driver fled and left her stuck under the taxi.

“I was heading home and the traffic flow to Gayaza was heavy, but coming back to Kampala, the road was very clear. At about 6:50pm, a taxi registration number UAR 388M came at a high speed and swerved next to my car. I was wondering whether the driver wanted to knock me. He then reversed and I heard a loud bang.

I thought it was my tyre that had burst. But when I looked out, I saw a girl lying on the tarmac, struggling and blood oozing out of the several wounds on her body,”

Charity Nyamungu, an employee of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority, said.

Nyamungu witnessed the episodes on the fateful day.

Babirye, who was stuck under the taxi, writhed with pain. Her hope for life after Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) was shattered.

By vending bananas, Babirye’s mission was to raise fees for her dream tailoring course. She scored an aggregate 21 in the just-concluded PLE.

What happened

Babirye’s mother, Esther Nassuna, told New Vision that she was at home in Kasangati when she received the news about her daughter.

“A Good Samaritan who witnessed the accident kept asking for directions to Babirye’s home. At about 7:00pm, the stranger came and found me at home and told me about the accident. I rushed to the scene and found my child had been taken to Gayaza Hospital for emergency treatment. When I reached the hospital, she was in a critical condition and they advised me to take her to Mulago Hospital,” she said.

It was a Tuesday.

Nassuna added that they rushed Babirye to Mulago Hospital in the evening, but when they reached the hospital, she was not attended to.

“She remained on the floor at the casualty section,” a teary Nassuna narrated. She said her daughter never made it out of Mulago Hospital.

Nyamungu’s account

Nyamungu told New Vision that when she reached home after witnessing the accident, she could not sleep.

“I could not sleep that night. The next day, as I was going to work at about 6:00am, I saw some parts of her [Babirye’s] cloth lying on the road. That evening, when I was returning, that cloth was still lying on the road. I decided to go and ask the traffic policeman at Gayaza whether the person who was knocked was still alive. I stopped and talked to an officer I later got to know as Esther Mirembe.

When I told her about the incident, she told me the girl had died. I told her I witnessed her last moments.

However, someone who was seated near the officer told me the girl was still alive. I then volunteered to record a statement,” Nyamungu said.

She added that even before she recorded a statement, she learnt that 24 hours after the accident, the traffic police had not drawn a sketch map of the accident scene.

It was at the station that Nyamungu got details and the telephone number of the victim’s mother, who she called and learnt that she was at Mulago Hospital.

On Thursday morning, Nyamungu said she went to Mulago Hospital to visit the victim and to her shock, she found out that the victim had not been attended to since Tuesday evening when she was brought.

A piece of Babirye’s cloth that remained on the road at Bulamu on the Gayaza-Kasangati road after the accident.

“I went to Mulago only to find the girl in a coma with a helpless mother in tears,” she said.

Nyamungu alleged that nurses and doctors at Mulago asked the mother for money before they could treat her daughter.

“So, I called the director general of Mulago Hospital, Dr Rosemary Byanyima, who immediately took action to see that the victim gets medical attention. I was relieved because shortly after the call, I saw immediate action at the casualty ward, and a file was opened and she was transferred to New Mulago ward A,” Nyamungu said.

In a message sent to Nyamungu, Byanyima apologised and confirmed that they still had “some unscrupulous” people around the hospital.

On Thursday evening, Nyamungu said she started a fundraising drive around her workplace and was able to raise some funds to assist the patient who still needed to buy medication that the hospital had not been procured.

But, it was too late to save Babirye’s life.

Mother seeks justice

Nassuna told New Vision that when she tried to inquire about the owner of the taxi at Kasangati Police Station, the officers allegedly mistreated her.

“They asked me why I was after the owner and driver of the car,” she said.

It took the effort of Nyamungu for Nassuna’s inquest to receive the attention of the Police.

“I was able to share the woman’s plight with some senior officers at the Uganda Police Force,” Nyamungu said, adding that when she intervened, the Police’s director of traffic and road safety, Lawrence Nuwabiine, called Nassuna and told the officer in charge of traffic in Kasangati to handle the matter.

However, Nassuna said Nuwabiine linked her to Dickson Rugundana — the same officer who allegedly mistreated her when she inquired about the taxi driver.

Asked why she allegedly mistreated Nassuna, the in charge of traffic at Kasangati Police Station, Rugundana, said: “She is just bad. The accident happened, and she came to Police and we told her that we had impounded the car, but the driver of the car had fled. We requested her to first mind about her child and she said she did not have money. Unfortunately, the child died. However, the owner of the car also came. We asked the owner to present the driver. The owner claimed the driver had run away and he could not do much.”

Rugundana also insisted that they never mistreated the lady.

“I even spent my personal money on her,” he said, adding that the owner of the vehicle insisted that he wanted to handle the matter of the accident with Nassuna.

However, Nyamungu said: “When I asked whether they had tried to find who owns the car, the Police said they had no funds. So, I had to use my contacts, who, after searching, found the owner of the taxi was Jamil Dungu. However, when I shared this information with the officer, she claimed the taxi had changed hands five times.”

“If the officers knew the taxi had changed hands five times, why didn’t they get the person who had bought the taxi last? Why were they using the allegations they did not have funds to cover up for the culprits? “It turns out that the taxi was also registered at the Gayaza stage and if the officers had fully investigated the case, they should have known who owned it and its actual driver on the fateful day,” Nyamungu added.

Babirye’s last moments

On Sunday, February 9, which was Babirye’s last day on earth, Nyamungu said she visited her at Mulago Hospital. She also gave Nassuna sh190,000 she had collected from well-wishers.

“After I left the hospital at about 6:00pm, Nassuna called at about 8:00pm, and thanked me for the help I had offered. I told her to be strong and prayerful. However, 15 minutes after we had talked, she called me back to tell me Babirye had died. She did not know what to do, and the only money she had on herself was sh190,000 that I had given her,” Nyamungu said.

Nyamungu added that she drove back to the hospital and she took her back to her home.

Speaking to New Vision, Nassuna said when they left Mulago Hospital, they embarked on a fundraising drive.

“We raised some money which enabled us to hire a taxi. The taxi operator charged us sh750,000 to transport the body to the village for burial and also bring the family back to Kampala,” she said.

On February 13, after the burial, Nyamungu said she received a phone call from a detective attached to Kasangati Police Station. The detective, Nyamungu said, asked her to report to the station with Nassuna.

“She had not even gotten time to mourn her daughter. So, I drove and picked her up from her home and took her to the Police where we met the owner of the taxi, the stage manager and the person who was managing the taxi. The owner told us that he did not know about the accident and just learnt of it on February 12,” Nyamungu said.

Nassuna said during the meeting with the owner of the taxi, she made it categorical that she needs justice and not money.

“The owner of the taxi asked us what we wanted. I insisted I wanted justice for my child. I also made it clear that I needed him to bring the driver who knocked my child,” she said.

“At the Police station, we also realised that the officers were covering up for the matter because the same taxi had earlier got involved in an accident in Bweyogerere,” Nassuna added.

She added that some officers urged them to negotiate a settlement with the owner of the taxi.

“They told us not to drag the matter. They added that if the matter goes to court, the owner will plead guilty and only pay a sh300,000 fine, and we lose out,” Nassuna said, adding that the owner of the taxi also wanted to meet the medical and burial expenses and seal the matter.

“The taxi owner wanted to give us sh50,000 and I close the matter. I rejected it,” she said.

Driver unmasked

Nassuna said some well-wishers assisted them to track down the driver that the Police had failed to find.

It turned out that on the fateful day, the taxi was being driven by Herbert Kayiira, who she said mans the Gayaza-Zirobwe-Busiika stage.

“With the aid of the eyewitnesses, we learnt that the driver, who is now in hiding, is well known to the Police and the owners of the taxi and they could be taking advantage of Babirye’s mother’s ignorance to deny her justice,” one of the witnesses told The Weekend Vision.

It has also emerged that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Justice Jane Abodo, has shown interest in the matter and the file has been recalled to the Resident State Attorney’s office for perusal.

Third party

A motor third party sticker is designed to safeguard the vehicle owner from liability for injuries or deaths resulting from accidents.

“Babirye’s case would have perfectly been pursued through the third party claims. However, it appears the officers at Kasangati Police Station were bent on frustrating the process,” a senior Police officer said.

Mariam Nalunkuuma, the head of communications at the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda (IRA), noted that third party is a cover for a third party and the first party is the insurance company.

“The second party is the owner of a vehicle and he gets into an agreement with an insurance company that when he injures a person who is the third party, it is the third party that is injured,” she said.

Nalunkuuma added that the third party compensates for bodily injuries.

“In this case, if it is a taxi, it can be a person who is on the roadside and this could be a pedestrian or it can also be a passenger,” she added.

Explaining the circumstances under which one can make a third-party claim, Nalunkuuma said: “A representative of the victim can go to the Police and get the accident report. In the Police report, if the person does not know the insurance company, the Police report has that detail. It also explains the type of accident, vehicle number and the insurance company that insured that vehicle. To get a Police report, someone pays sh80,000, but that money is refunded during compensation as long as you have the receipt,” she said.

“Of course, you will say sh1m is little, but by 1989 when the law was put in place, sh1m was substantial. Today sh1m is nothing and that is why IRA has already taken steps to engage the finance ministry so that particular law is amended,” she added.