Kanyamunyu told detectives Akena had been shot by an unknown person- Witness

A witness has told the High Court in Kampala that businessman Mathew Kanyamunyu told detectives that child rights activist Kenneth Akena was shot by an unknown person and not him as was being alleged.

In his testimony before High Court judge Steven Mubiru, Detective Sergent Patrick Akunyu, 45 said on the fateful day he was inside Jinja road police barracks and received a call from a fellow detective attached to Kira road police station informing him of gunshots along Jinja road and wanted him to find out whether the matter had been reported to police.

Akunyu, who is currently attached to the Central Police Station in Kampala but was in 2016 attached to Jinja road police station said as he approached the counter, he was asked by Godwin Agaba, the then Kampala Metropolitan East CID commander to go with him to Wandegeya police station to follow up on the matter.

“At Wandegeya we found two suspects in the office of the OC and I was instructed to take a statement from Kanyamunyu. In his statement, he told me he was with his girlfriend (Cynthia Munwangari) driving from Kololo and were going to Luzira where they stayed and that on reaching in front of UMA show grounds gate, a speeding vehicle bypassed them and blocked theirs as they made a U-turn to face Kampala side,”Akunyu told court on Thursday afternoon.

The detective said he was told by Kanyamunyu in his statement that the vehicle then went and parked ahead as they (Kanyamunyu) parked behind it and got out to find out what had happened.

“He(Kanyamunyu) told me that two people got out and approached their car but as he was trying to get out of his vehicle, he had a gunshot and one of the attackers started crying saying he had been shot and should be helped to go to hospital. He said that the second attacker disappeared in thin air.”

According to the detective, Kanyamunyu told him that he was worried the two attackers wanted to finish off his girlfriend who was being hunted for by the Burundian government.

The police detective told court that Kanyamunyu told him that he later together with his girlfriend helped take the victim (Akena) to Victoria Medical Centre along Kira road and that the victim was later referred to Nakasero hospital because the first medical facility didn’t have a doctor that night.

According to the detective, Kanyamunyu said it was from Nakasero hospital that he went together with Munwangari to Wandegeya police station where they were found to record statements.

Punches holes in statement

The detective said that after listening to Kanyamunyu’s narration, he discovered that it was not consistent and further interrogated him to find out the truth.

Akunyu said he asked Kanyamunyu whether he was a security operative but he responded in the negative whereas when he was asked whether he had ever handled a gun, he again denied.

“His behavior left many questions unanswered on how he had put someone he had described as an attacker into his vehicle, didn’t report to the nearby police booth, drove past Jinja road police, went via Lugogo bypass, via Kira road police station up to Victoria Medical Centre without reporting the incident. This behavior made me believe his version of the story was not correct,” the detective told court.

“It would be very difficult for someone to save a person who was going to attack you and forget all about your life yet you don’t know the direction from which the gunshot came.”

Suspects are taken to the scene

The detective told court that later, the two suspects were one by one taken to the scene of crime to help reconstruct it in a bid to find out what exactly had happened.

He said that both narrated similar events on the fateful day but noted that they both differed on the number of people who were in the other car.

“She(Cynthia Munwangari) told us the same story like Kanyamunyu but she was talking of one person in the other vehicle(Akena’s) yet he had told us two people,” the detective told court.

Justice Steven Mubiru adjourned the matter to February 11, 2020 for further defence hearing.