He tricked his friend into an outing to kill him

Oct 02, 2009

For three days in 1994, Warren Bantariza’s troubled parents were bombarded with phone calls, demanding a ransom or they would never see their son alive again.

By Anne Mugisa

For three days in 1994, Warren Bantariza’s troubled parents were bombarded with phone calls, demanding a ransom or they would never see their son alive again.

The media was awash with the news of his disappearance.

He had on the morning of the fateful day been picked from the Pan African Movement offices in Muyenga, by someone who did not leave his particulars. The Police and other security organs were investigating, but nothing was forthcoming.

When fishermen sighted a body dangling over a cliff at the Botanical Gardens in Entebbe, they informed the Police. With the help of the army, they retrieved the body, which the Buhweju MP, Francis Bantariza and his wife identified as that of their son, Warren. That day, the caller continued demanding the ransom, unaware that his victim’s body had been found.

Police investigations then led to the arrest of two of Warren’s friends, Shadrack Magara and Samuel Wanje. What followed was a shocking tale of betrayal that saw Magara and Wanje get death sentences, though Wanje’s was overturned on appeal. The two and Warren, were students.

The trip that ended Warren’s life
Magara hired a vehicle, registration number 949 UAK, picked his friend, Wanje, from Nakawa College of Business Studies (now MUBS) and headed for Muyenga to pick Warren.

Fearing that he would be tracked later, he stopped shortly before the Pan African Movement offices and sent Wanje who was not known by people at Warren’s office to call him.

Wanje himself may not have known what was to follow. Warren came with Wanje and joined Magara, who assured him they would return shortly, as they drove off.

Only Magara knew where they were going. They first drove to Makerere University in Kampala, where Magara bought three packs of fast food, before proceeding to Entebbe. They arrived in Entebbe at 11:00am.

Warren’s food is laced with poison
In Entebbe, Magara, who was the eldest, asked Warren to go and buy soda. While Warren was away, Magara laced one of the food packs with poison, which he had obtained from an Indian, identified as Vik Panchant. He later distributed the food and gave the poisoned pack to Warren.

As it transpired in court later, Vik, who also paid for the food, had claimed that Warren had taken money from him to buy gold and he had since been in hiding. He had given Magara the poison to administer to Warren’s food to make him drowsy and then deliver him to Vik.

After eating, Warren complained of dizziness and commented that the food was poisoned, but Magara told him there was nothing wrong with the food.

As his condition deteriorated, Wanje suggested that they take him to a doctor, but Magara refused, instead opting to drive him around for fresh air. However, Warren’s situation did not improve. Meanwhile, Vik, whom Magara was waiting for, was not showing up.

Magara drives car over warren
By 7:00pm, Warren was close to death. Wanje pleaded with Magara to take their friend to the nearest hospital for treatment, but he refused, fearing they would be exposed.

He asked Wanje to help him lay Warren on the ground. He got into the car and drove it over his helpless friend, then reversed it over him. He told Wanje that they were already in a mess and there was no alternative bu to finish off the victim.

Magara then got a sisal rope and tied it tightly around Warren’s neck to make it look like he had committed suicide.

With Wanje’s help, he stripped the body of the trousers and put them in the car boot. They drove off to the lake side. The two threw the body over the cliff into Lake Victoria, but it got stuck in tree branches.

The trial
Magara had confessed, in a statement to the Police, to killing Warren. However, during the trial, he said the Police made the statement and forced him to sign against it.

This forced the judge to conduct a trial within a trial, to ascertain the authenticity of the confession before allowing it as evidence.

Magara claimed that he signed the confession because the Police had threatened to arrest his girl-friend and his brother. They allegedly threatened that the two would be charged with murder unless he relented and signed the statement, Magara narrated to court.

However, when the duo picked Warren, he had carried a file folder with inscriptions F. Bantariza: TWIGA AGRO CHEMICALS.

The folder had been given to Warren by his father, a few days before the murder.

It is this folder, Warren’s other belongings and Magara’s confession that helped pin him in the case. The folder had been recovered under the mattress of Magara’s girlfriend in Seeta. Warren’s shoes were also found with Magara’s brother.

At the Police, Bantariza identified the folder as the one he had given his son before his death.

With the discovery of the folder, Magara, who had earlier been questioned and released on Police bond after denying the murder, was re-arrested while on the way to Lugazi.

After a thorough examination of the confession, the judge rejected Magara’s claims that it was prepared by the Police and that he was only forced to sign it to save his loved ones.

The judgement
The judge said the confession was voluntarily done, true and adequately corroborated. During the trial within the trial, the judge added, Magara was shifty and not a truthful witness.

The accomplices were convicted of murder and sentenced to death in May 2001. Magara appealed against his conviction, saying the judge should never have admitted the confession because he (Magara) signed it under duress. But in August 2003, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court ruling and only Wanje was acquitted. Magara appealed to the Supreme Court.

At the Supreme Court, Magara’s case was one of those recently referred back to the High Court for hearing on mitigation of sentence, following the highest court’s decision that the death sentence is not mandatory. This means that the judge looks at the circumstances and decides whether the death sentence should still be the penalty for the crime.

Who is Magara?
Looking at Shadrak Magara in the dock during his trial for the murder of his friend, one thing came to mind; this young man had no feeling. He was cold.

He had been on the Police’s list of criminals and it was not hard for them to suspect him of the murder. At first, he had been very careful not to leave any trails in the Warren murder but not for long.

Magara had decided to use some other friend, Samuel Wanje, who was not known at the office of his victim. He instructed Wanje to sign the visitors’ book at Bantariza’s office at the Pan African Movement, under a pseudo name, Brian Kyeyune. When Warren left his office in Muyenga, it was the last he was seen alive.

Magara went to Kyambogo College School for his O’ levels and Makerere College for A’ levels. Those who studied with him say he rarely attended class, though he always performed well.

He is said to have joined Makerere University to study Law, a course he did briefly but was discontinued for failing to sit for supplementary exams. Those who know him describe him as very talkative and convincing. Friends describe him as someone who likes making money out of anything to finance his lavish lifestyle. Just before he murdered his friend, Magara’s parents had sent him to a university in India to study. They gave him the money, but when he reached Nairobi, he cut the journey short. When the money was gone, Magara returned to Uganda although his parents were not aware.

It is during this time that an Indian, Vik Panchal, hired him to administer the dangerous drug on his unsuspecting friend. The Indian is said to have been jealous of Warren, suspecting him to be interested in a girl he was dating.

After the murder, Panchal reneged on his promise to pay for the dirty work. Magara was heard quarreling with him, saying: “You lured me into killing my friend and you did not even turn up.”

He needed money to get away, so he started asking his victim’s parents for a $5,000 ransom. He threatened them that if they did not pay, they would never see him alive again.

But before the desperate Bantariza family could deliver the money, their son’s body was found. On learning that the body had been discovered, Magara fled to Kigali, but later returned and was arrested. Some of his victim’s property was found hidden at his girlfriend’s place in Seeta. His friend, Wanje, was also arrested and they were both charged with murder.

Magara was sentenced to death for the offence. He appealed to the Supreme Court unsuccessfully. He is right now fighting to have his punishment reduced.

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