The man Kagezi spoke to last narrates ordeal

By Vision Reporters

A fruit vendor who was the last person to speak to Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Joan Kagezi has narrated the chilling moment he was taking the slain prosecutor's order before she was gunned down.

The vendor usually sold fruits to Kagezi. He narrated:

“She had been my customer for a whole year. She stopped and asked me to give her oranges and passion fruits. She then added that I give her mangoes.

She was just pronouncing the word 'mangoes' when she got shot. I heard her daughter who was seated at the front of the vehicle saying, "They have killed mom."

When I looked up at the vehicle she was slumped on the steering wheel bleeding profusely; but I did not see who shot her.

When Kayihura (IGP) came he took me to his office to explain to him what had happened; that is where I slept."

Forensics detectives working at the crime scene on Tuesday. PHOTO/Juliet Kasirye

That a high profile government official like Kagezi always stopped in a local trading centre to buy fruits from her favourite vendor was testimony to what defined her character of humility.

The New Vision quoted one of Kagezi’s neighbours, who did not want to be identified, referring to the slain prosecutor as a humble person.

“She was a down-to-earth woman. She never moved with guards. Whenever she met us, she would smile and wave,” the neighbour explained.

CIID boss Grace Akullo talks to journalists at the crime scene on Tuesday. PHOTO/Juliet Kasirye

Emmanuel Ekom, a guard at the neighbouring residence, said Kagezi had promised him a job.

“Two weeks ago, she stopped and we talked and she promised me a job at her home. I was going to work as a shamba boy. I was excited about the job,” he said.

Pray for me, mom

Like a premonition of her fate, family sources say, Kagezi had intimated to her mother, Caroline Namayanja Serwadda, last Saturday that she was wary of the very difficult case she was dealing with.

Kaggwa Serwadda, the father of the late Joan Kagezi speaks on phone at her home in Kiwatule on March 31, 2015. PHOTO/JULIET KASIRYE

Kagezi had visited the mother in Buloba – Kiwumu along Mityana road with her son and they had a meal together.

She had intimated that despite having handled several tough cases she was wary of this one.

She was the lead prosecutor in the July 11, 2010 Kampala bombings trial where scores of people died at Kyadondo rugby club and Ethiopian restaurant in Kabalagala.

Kagezi was assassinated the day before the trial of the Kampala bombings suspects was to resume.

Before she left Buloba she had asked her mother to pray for her.

Kagezi had asked her mother, Caroline Namayanja, to pray for her

Namayanja talked of her daughter as a people's person and was very fond of children.

She said Kagezi was travelled frequently out of the country to do government work. She said of her daughter:

"We wanted her to study medicine but she wanted law and until her graduation, her father thought she had been studying to be a doctor.

After graduating she surprised her father: "Dad, I have graduated but as a lawyer not a doctor."


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