Kanyamunyu murder trial resumes today

The trial of businessman Mathew Kanyamunyu indicted with the murder of child rights activist Kenneth Watmon Akena resumes today.

Two months ago, Kanyamunyu reached out to Akena's family and apologised to them.

"To be honest, I would be lying to you if I told you that I have fully comprehended the tragedy of that day up to today. The foolishness, the evil that I exhibited on that day is not something I knew was in me but now I recognise that deep within me there is evil that I do not know about," Kanyamunyu earlier said.

However, it is not known whether Kanyamunyu will request for plea bargain following reconciliation talks he had with Akena's family members.

Plea bargain is an arrangement between prosecutor and an accused whereby the accused pleads guilty to the charge in exchange for a more lenient sentence.

Kanyamunyu, the Executive Director Quantum Express Logistics and his girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari are on trial over the alleged murder of Akena, the former employee of ACODER, a non-government organisation based in Kasese district.

Meanwhile, his brother Joseph Kanyamunyu is accused of hiding the pistol allegedly used to shoot Akena.

Prosecution alleges that the accused and others still at large on November 12, 2016 along Kampala-Jinja Road opposite Malik car bond with malice aforethought caused the death of Akena.

Kanyamunyu is suspected to have shot Akena in the stomach over the denting of his car. Akena died a day after at Norvik Hospital, on Bombo Road in Kampala.

High Court Judge Stephen Mubiru pushed the case to the next criminal session on February 21, this year, after his session ended, amidst protests from the prosecution team, led by Jonathan Muwanganya.

While adjourning the case, the judge noted that he had other pending matters in his circuit (Gulu High Court) and a matter before the International Crimes Division.

He returned the file to the Kampala based Criminal Division of the High Court deputy registrar Mary Ikit for re-allocation in the next convenient criminal session. Mubiru is the Gulu High Court resident judge.

At the time of suspension of the trial, 13 witnesses had testified in the matter including Robinah Kirinya, a principal analyst from the Government Analytical Laboratory (GAL), who told court that gunshot residues were found on Kanyamunyu's clothes.