Kajubi case: Victim's father breaks down in court

By Dismus Buregyeya

The father of the 12-year-old Joseph Kasirye who was reportedly murdered by Kato Kajubi broke down in tears as he testified before Justice Mike Chibita on Tuesday at the High Court in Masaka.

Joseph Mugwanya, aged 37 and a resident of Luvule in Mukungwe village cried in court as he narrated how he found the body of his son dumped in a swamp with the head, umbilical cord and private parts missing on October 29 in 2008.

Mugwanya said he easily recognized the body of his son which was wrapped in a black polythene bag at Kayugi swamp.

He said he got to know about Kajubi when Mariam Nabukeera,a wife to his neighbour,Umar Bosco Kateregga implicated him.

Mugwanya told court that the police beat up Nabukeera and Kateregga before the couple revealed where they had dumped the body of Kasirye.

The Court of Appeal ordered for fresh hearing of the case after one of the key suspects Kato Kajubi, a city tycoon in Kampala who is alleged to have masterminded the murder, was acquitted in a controversial judgment passed by Justice Moses Mukiibi.

‘No confession’

Court was surprised when a Special Police Constable attached to Kako Police Station, Charles Ssebwana said that his police statement did not reflect the confession of Nabukeera.

"I do not know how to read and write English and although my statement was recorded, I could not tell the contents but indeed Nabukera had confessed and revealed Kato Kajubi among the murderers," he revealed.

Lawyer Kamugunda told court that the crucial confession of Nabukeera was not part of the police statement made by Ssebwana.

The scenario

Ssebwana said he intercepted Nabukera and Kateregga when they tried to escape through the Nabugabo Sand Beach route.

He said he rushed the couple to Kako Police Post to save them from the charged mob that had staged a road block at Kayugi with intent to lynch the duo.

He added that Kateregga had also exhumed a body in the neighbourhood after the villagers had tipped Police the previous day that they had seen him with a human skull at night.

The Kayugi LC1 Chairman, Gerald Matovu said he tricked Nabukeera to disclose the murder suspects when he deceived her that her husband Kateregga had been killed over the matter.

Nabukeera, scared for her life, revealed that Kasirye was killed by Kateregga and Kato Kajubi.

Behind the scene

Initially Kateregga had said he had handed over Kasirye to one of the rich men to work as a house help in his poultry projects.

The uncle of the deceased identified as Paul Kasirye told court that Kateregga, who was a neighbor came and asked Kasirye to serve him with drinking water.

He said Kasirye disappeared since then and a search was mounted through the night in vain.

According to the senior Kasirye, Kateregga had denied having knowledge of the whereabouts of Kasirye until they spotted car tyre tracks behind his house in the morning.

Earlier, the prosecution failed to present an original copy of the medical examination report of Kajubi done by the police medical officer, Moses Byaruhanga on grounds that it had gone missing.

The principal State attorney Susan Okalany instead tendered in a carbon copy of the report.

Justice Chibita adjourned the case to the following day for the prosecution to present all the remaining witnesses including Kateregga and Nabukera who are apparently under police protection.

Okalany said she was not sure whether the MTN authorities will be available to testify about their phone call print-out report against the suspects.