Kooky to hang for killing wife
Aug 07, 2009
Over time, the Court has decided on a number of high profile cases. In a series, <i>Saturday Vision</i> looks back at some of the attention-grabbing cases that have visited the court room.<br><br>The day broke with Kooky Sharma, a businessman, hurriedly
Over time, the Court has decided on a number of high profile cases. In a series, Saturday Vision looks back at some of the attention-grabbing cases that have visited the court room.
By Anne Mugisa
The day broke with Kooky Sharma, a businessman, hurriedly trying to cremate his wife’s body without informing authorities.
Kooky had convinced the head of the Indian community in Uganda, Rajni Taylor, to arrange for the cremation. He wanted a snappy one to circumvent the Hindu custom of treating the body.
Suspicious, Taylor asked Kooky if the LCs were aware, to which he said yes. Then Taylor asked if the Police were aware, Kooky said it was not necessary.
That was early morning on the Christmas Eve of 1997. As Kooky pressed for a fast cremation, an LC official of the area, Abdi Jamal, on a tip off, arrived and blocked his plan.
Kooky’s wife, Renu Joshi, had died in the night. The previous day she had been alright and neighbours in Old Kampala had even seen her wash clothes and put them on the line to dry.
Kooky had gone about his business and returned home just after midnight. The neighbours in the semi detached building had heard beatings, with the woman crying out, “mummy, mummy, mummy,†and then silence.
The Kooky couple lived with their two young children, a cook called Raju and Kooky’s disabled relative, Bitu Kumar.
Jamal, the LC1 chairman, had called the Police. Together, they checked the body. On seeing bruises, they immediately conducted a quick search of the house. In one of the rooms, Raju, the cook, was lying unconscious in bed with broken limbs and a swollen mouth. The Police rushed him to Nsambya Hospital, where he was admitted. But when the Police returned to Nsambya two days later, Raju had disappeared and has never been seen since.
Enraged, the Indian community blocked Joshi’s cremation until an exhaustive investigation was done. Women activists and human rights organisations demonstrated.
Following a postmortem, pathologists at Mulago Hospital concluded that Joshi was killed with electric shocks. Her internal organs had also tested positive for poison.
Kooky and his brother, Davinder Kumar, were charged with Joshi’s murder, though Kooky maintained that she died of malaria.
Reports from the neighbourhood were rife that Kooky had subjected Joshi to untold abuse and torture for even the slightest mistake, real or imagined. It was said in desperation, she would smuggle chits through the kitchen window to neighbours to post to her parents in India.
NEIGHBOURS
Kooky’s immediate neighbours were the Rurebwa Twine family. Deo Twine, his wife Margaret and daughter Lilian said they heard beatings and bangings in Kooky’s house. Lilian said she woke up to noise and bangings in Kooky’s house and a female voice crying. When the crying stopped, Lilian slept.
Twine said he heard quarrels inside Kooky’s house, followed by beatings and a female voice crying. He woke up his wife to listen. Margaret said she heard the beatings and bangings and Joshi crying. She said she recognised the voices of Kooky and Davinder in the commotion. When the noise stopped, she too slept again.
The next morning, a window in Kooky’s house had been covered with a mattress. In the compound was a mechanic and two vehicles. She went to her shop but returned home on hearing about the murder.
Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered outside the residence, demanding that the body be taken to the Police.
RAJNI TAYLOR
Taylor said Kooky phoned him as the head of the Indian community, to tell him his wife had died of malaria. Kooky then asked him to arrange for cremation. Instead of producing a death certificate, Kooky produced a letter from Dr. Patel.
Taylor asked Kooky what happened and Kooky said Joshi took poison. At Old Kampala Police station, Taylor asked Kooky again what happened and he replied that he was sorry, that he and the deceased had quarrelled at night.
DR. PATEL
In his testimony, Dr. Patel denied examining Joshi’s body. He said he arrived at 5:00am and Kooky told him Joshi had died of malaria.
He refuted Kooky’s claims that he examined the body and found that the deceased had died of high blood pressure. “I only confirmed the death after Kooky told me that Joshi had died of malaria,†Patel told the Court.
Joshi’s father
Rish Palu Joshi travelled from Chandigarh, India to testify. He said Kooky married his daughter in 1991. He lost touch with the couple as they moved and did not communicate with him. He said he was forced to run an advert in the papers for his daughter to communicate. After that, he received her letters from her, but Kooky would intercept his replies, he said. This effectively cut off communication between father and daughter, until her death. Kooky’s lawyers blocked him from divulging details of Joshi’s letters.
KOOKY’S DEFENCE
Kooky gave unsworn evidence. With unsworn testimony, Kooky could not be challenged by the prosecution in cross examination. He said he went home for lunch around 2:00pm and returned to the shop where he stayed until about midnight.
He said he found Joshi seated on their bed, clutching her stomach, saying she was in pain. He said she refused his suggestion to see a doctor. She went to the bathroom twice but still refused to see a doctor, he added.
Kooky said at that time he entered the bed and slept because he was tired. He said he was woken up at 4:00am by Joshi’s cries. She was sweating. He said he called Raju four times but he did not respond. He then rang his brother, Davinder Kumar, to call a doctor.
Dr. Prakash Patel arrived and pronounced Joshi dead. Another doctor, Shah, was called in. Kooky said he and the two doctors then saw the tablets.
He said as he and his brother, Kumar, were being taken to the Police, the crowd outside his home shouted that Kooky had killed his wife.
Kooky blamed his woes on business rivalry in the Indian community and his immediate neighbours. He said his neighbours had a long-standing rivalry with him over their shared property, which both families wanted to buy.
DAVINDER KUMAR
Kooky’s brother, Kumar, also cited business rivals and bad neighbours. He said he was not in the house when Joshi died and that Kooky called him at around 4:00am to call a doctor.
JUDGEMENT
Justice Bosco Katutsi rejected their defence. He sentenced Kooky and his brother to death. The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence, but the Supreme Court acquitted Davinder.
The judges in all the three courts ruled out malaria and dismissed Kooky’s claims of poisoning. They noted that Kooky changed his story in the court and started describing symptoms of poisoning to give weight to the suicide story. At the Police, Kooky had stated that Joshi died of malaria.
Curiously, the judges noted, Kooky chose to sleep instead of calling a doctor only to be awakened later by Joshi’s cries. He then called Kumar, instructing him to call a doctor, instead of calling a doctor himself.
They also noted that when Dr. Patel arrived, the body was fully covered except for the face and Kooky quickly said she had died of malaria. How did he know this, the judges wondered.
The Supreme Court disagreed with the lower courts that the neighbours had recognised Davinder’s voice during the murder. The Court ruled that the prosecution failed to break Davinder’s alibi of being away at the time.
Thus Kooky’s fate was sealed as his brother Davinder walked free at the final appeal.
By Anne Mugisa
The day broke with Kooky Sharma, a businessman, hurriedly trying to cremate his wife’s body without informing authorities.
Kooky had convinced the head of the Indian community in Uganda, Rajni Taylor, to arrange for the cremation. He wanted a snappy one to circumvent the Hindu custom of treating the body.
Suspicious, Taylor asked Kooky if the LCs were aware, to which he said yes. Then Taylor asked if the Police were aware, Kooky said it was not necessary.
That was early morning on the Christmas Eve of 1997. As Kooky pressed for a fast cremation, an LC official of the area, Abdi Jamal, on a tip off, arrived and blocked his plan.
Kooky’s wife, Renu Joshi, had died in the night. The previous day she had been alright and neighbours in Old Kampala had even seen her wash clothes and put them on the line to dry.
Kooky had gone about his business and returned home just after midnight. The neighbours in the semi detached building had heard beatings, with the woman crying out, “mummy, mummy, mummy,†and then silence.
The Kooky couple lived with their two young children, a cook called Raju and Kooky’s disabled relative, Bitu Kumar.
Jamal, the LC1 chairman, had called the Police. Together, they checked the body. On seeing bruises, they immediately conducted a quick search of the house. In one of the rooms, Raju, the cook, was lying unconscious in bed with broken limbs and a swollen mouth. The Police rushed him to Nsambya Hospital, where he was admitted. But when the Police returned to Nsambya two days later, Raju had disappeared and has never been seen since.
Enraged, the Indian community blocked Joshi’s cremation until an exhaustive investigation was done. Women activists and human rights organisations demonstrated.
Following a postmortem, pathologists at Mulago Hospital concluded that Joshi was killed with electric shocks. Her internal organs had also tested positive for poison.
Kooky and his brother, Davinder Kumar, were charged with Joshi’s murder, though Kooky maintained that she died of malaria.
Reports from the neighbourhood were rife that Kooky had subjected Joshi to untold abuse and torture for even the slightest mistake, real or imagined. It was said in desperation, she would smuggle chits through the kitchen window to neighbours to post to her parents in India.
NEIGHBOURS
Kooky’s immediate neighbours were the Rurebwa Twine family. Deo Twine, his wife Margaret and daughter Lilian said they heard beatings and bangings in Kooky’s house. Lilian said she woke up to noise and bangings in Kooky’s house and a female voice crying. When the crying stopped, Lilian slept.
Twine said he heard quarrels inside Kooky’s house, followed by beatings and a female voice crying. He woke up his wife to listen. Margaret said she heard the beatings and bangings and Joshi crying. She said she recognised the voices of Kooky and Davinder in the commotion. When the noise stopped, she too slept again.
The next morning, a window in Kooky’s house had been covered with a mattress. In the compound was a mechanic and two vehicles. She went to her shop but returned home on hearing about the murder.
Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered outside the residence, demanding that the body be taken to the Police.
RAJNI TAYLOR
Taylor said Kooky phoned him as the head of the Indian community, to tell him his wife had died of malaria. Kooky then asked him to arrange for cremation. Instead of producing a death certificate, Kooky produced a letter from Dr. Patel.
Taylor asked Kooky what happened and Kooky said Joshi took poison. At Old Kampala Police station, Taylor asked Kooky again what happened and he replied that he was sorry, that he and the deceased had quarrelled at night.
DR. PATEL
In his testimony, Dr. Patel denied examining Joshi’s body. He said he arrived at 5:00am and Kooky told him Joshi had died of malaria.
He refuted Kooky’s claims that he examined the body and found that the deceased had died of high blood pressure. “I only confirmed the death after Kooky told me that Joshi had died of malaria,†Patel told the Court.
Joshi’s father
Rish Palu Joshi travelled from Chandigarh, India to testify. He said Kooky married his daughter in 1991. He lost touch with the couple as they moved and did not communicate with him. He said he was forced to run an advert in the papers for his daughter to communicate. After that, he received her letters from her, but Kooky would intercept his replies, he said. This effectively cut off communication between father and daughter, until her death. Kooky’s lawyers blocked him from divulging details of Joshi’s letters.
KOOKY’S DEFENCE
Kooky gave unsworn evidence. With unsworn testimony, Kooky could not be challenged by the prosecution in cross examination. He said he went home for lunch around 2:00pm and returned to the shop where he stayed until about midnight.
He said he found Joshi seated on their bed, clutching her stomach, saying she was in pain. He said she refused his suggestion to see a doctor. She went to the bathroom twice but still refused to see a doctor, he added.
Kooky said at that time he entered the bed and slept because he was tired. He said he was woken up at 4:00am by Joshi’s cries. She was sweating. He said he called Raju four times but he did not respond. He then rang his brother, Davinder Kumar, to call a doctor.
Dr. Prakash Patel arrived and pronounced Joshi dead. Another doctor, Shah, was called in. Kooky said he and the two doctors then saw the tablets.
He said as he and his brother, Kumar, were being taken to the Police, the crowd outside his home shouted that Kooky had killed his wife.
Kooky blamed his woes on business rivalry in the Indian community and his immediate neighbours. He said his neighbours had a long-standing rivalry with him over their shared property, which both families wanted to buy.
DAVINDER KUMAR
Kooky’s brother, Kumar, also cited business rivals and bad neighbours. He said he was not in the house when Joshi died and that Kooky called him at around 4:00am to call a doctor.
JUDGEMENT
Justice Bosco Katutsi rejected their defence. He sentenced Kooky and his brother to death. The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence, but the Supreme Court acquitted Davinder.
The judges in all the three courts ruled out malaria and dismissed Kooky’s claims of poisoning. They noted that Kooky changed his story in the court and started describing symptoms of poisoning to give weight to the suicide story. At the Police, Kooky had stated that Joshi died of malaria.
Curiously, the judges noted, Kooky chose to sleep instead of calling a doctor only to be awakened later by Joshi’s cries. He then called Kumar, instructing him to call a doctor, instead of calling a doctor himself.
They also noted that when Dr. Patel arrived, the body was fully covered except for the face and Kooky quickly said she had died of malaria. How did he know this, the judges wondered.
The Supreme Court disagreed with the lower courts that the neighbours had recognised Davinder’s voice during the murder. The Court ruled that the prosecution failed to break Davinder’s alibi of being away at the time.
Thus Kooky’s fate was sealed as his brother Davinder walked free at the final appeal.