House-help testifies in septic tank murder
Jun 16, 2011
FRED Ssempijja, the houseboy to Tom Nkulungira alias Tonku, helped his employer to carry Brenda Karamuzi’s body and dump it in the septic tank, court heard yesterday.
By ANDANTE OKANYA
and DIDAS KISEMBO
FRED Ssempijja, the houseboy to Tom Nkulungira alias Tonku, helped his employer to carry Brenda Karamuzi’s body and dump it in the septic tank, court heard yesterday.
Ssempijja is Tonku’s co-accused in the murder trial of Karamuzi.
His claims are contained in his charge and caution statements presented to court yesterday by Police detective Joy Mary Nakku, who recorded the statement on March 24 last year at Katwe Police Station.
“I found when he had wrapped the body of Brenda in a red bedsheet. Both of us opened the septic tank. Tom opened the sheet and threw the body inside the septic tank. Then we covered the septic tank,†Ssempijja stated.
Yesterday, during trial at the High Court in Kampala presided over by Justice Albert Rugadya-Atwooki, both statements were tendered in as prosecution exhibits.
This was done shortly after Nakku had testified. She was not cross-examined.
Prosecution, led by principal state attorney Joan Kagezi, alleges that the two murdered Karamuzi between January 21 and 30 last year at Kijjwa zone, Bukasa in the Kampala suburb of Muyenga.
A fumigator, working on the septic tank of a house which Tonku rented, discovered her decomposing body.
She was a daughter to Henry and Joy Karamuzi.
Nakku, who is prosecution witness number 16, said she recorded Ssempijja’s statement in Luganda and later translated it to English. She said he later signed to affirm that he owned them.
Tonku’s lawyers Nsubuga Mubiru and Patrick Johnny Barenzi, and Janet Nakakande, who is representing Ssempijja, did not object to the statements submitted as exhibits.
Ssempijja, 21, narrated that he found Karamuzi’s blood-stained body in the sitting room with broken glass bottles strewn all over.
He said he later cleaned up the place and washed the bloodstained clothes and bed sheets. Additionally, he confessed that Tonku promised him sh1m in exchange for his silence to keep the murder a secret.
“He asked me to keep it as a secret and never reveal it to anybody, not even my wife. He promised me my salary of sh200,000 and to give me sh1m,†said Ssempijja.
Ssempijja narrated that on the Friday, prior to Karamuzi’s disappearance, she arrived at Tonku’s residence at about noon and inquired whether Tonku was at home. Ssempijja said he replied in the affirmative.
He said prior to the murder, he had been employed as a shamba boy for Tonku and his neighbour, Aziz Kakooza, since January 1, 2007. He added that Tonku was not married and hosted different women and friends.
Ssempijja said he could only recognise the deceased and another woman known as Suzan and knew the rest by appearance. Trial continues today.
and DIDAS KISEMBO
FRED Ssempijja, the houseboy to Tom Nkulungira alias Tonku, helped his employer to carry Brenda Karamuzi’s body and dump it in the septic tank, court heard yesterday.
Ssempijja is Tonku’s co-accused in the murder trial of Karamuzi.
His claims are contained in his charge and caution statements presented to court yesterday by Police detective Joy Mary Nakku, who recorded the statement on March 24 last year at Katwe Police Station.
“I found when he had wrapped the body of Brenda in a red bedsheet. Both of us opened the septic tank. Tom opened the sheet and threw the body inside the septic tank. Then we covered the septic tank,†Ssempijja stated.
Yesterday, during trial at the High Court in Kampala presided over by Justice Albert Rugadya-Atwooki, both statements were tendered in as prosecution exhibits.
This was done shortly after Nakku had testified. She was not cross-examined.
Prosecution, led by principal state attorney Joan Kagezi, alleges that the two murdered Karamuzi between January 21 and 30 last year at Kijjwa zone, Bukasa in the Kampala suburb of Muyenga.
A fumigator, working on the septic tank of a house which Tonku rented, discovered her decomposing body.
She was a daughter to Henry and Joy Karamuzi.
Nakku, who is prosecution witness number 16, said she recorded Ssempijja’s statement in Luganda and later translated it to English. She said he later signed to affirm that he owned them.
Tonku’s lawyers Nsubuga Mubiru and Patrick Johnny Barenzi, and Janet Nakakande, who is representing Ssempijja, did not object to the statements submitted as exhibits.
Ssempijja, 21, narrated that he found Karamuzi’s blood-stained body in the sitting room with broken glass bottles strewn all over.
He said he later cleaned up the place and washed the bloodstained clothes and bed sheets. Additionally, he confessed that Tonku promised him sh1m in exchange for his silence to keep the murder a secret.
“He asked me to keep it as a secret and never reveal it to anybody, not even my wife. He promised me my salary of sh200,000 and to give me sh1m,†said Ssempijja.
Ssempijja narrated that on the Friday, prior to Karamuzi’s disappearance, she arrived at Tonku’s residence at about noon and inquired whether Tonku was at home. Ssempijja said he replied in the affirmative.
He said prior to the murder, he had been employed as a shamba boy for Tonku and his neighbour, Aziz Kakooza, since January 1, 2007. He added that Tonku was not married and hosted different women and friends.
Ssempijja said he could only recognise the deceased and another woman known as Suzan and knew the rest by appearance. Trial continues today.