Kanyamunyu trial: Killer bullet hit Akena through the chest but got stuck in the rectum

A witness has told court in the Kanyamunyu case that the killer bullet hit Kenneth Akena through the chest and was found stuck in the rectum.

Matthew Kanyamunyu, the director Quantum Express Logistics and his girlfriend, Cynthia Munwangari are accused of the murder of  Kenneth Akena, a former child rights activist who was shot in  November 2016 at Lugogo and died a few hours later at Nakasero hospital from bullet wounds.

On Thursday, a pathologist who preferred not to have his identity revealed but was referred to a Witness X for security reasons told court during cross-examination that on examination, Akena’s body was found with a bullet wound at the chest area but there was no exit wound.

“We had to open the body to get the bullet out. We found the lungs were smaller than usual but there was no wound on them. There was also no wound on the heart. The only injury was on the tissue protecting the kidneys but the kidneys were intact,” Witness X told court on Thursday afternoon.

The witness said the examination found that the person who shot the deceased was facing him but could not determine the distance between the two.

“The bullet came from the left side of the chest, through the diaphragm to the abdomen and eventually settled in the rectum,” the witness told court.

He said the black bullet measuring 11 by 4 millimeters was recovered from Akena’s rectum.

However, the defence team including McDusman Kabega, Caleb Alaka and Evans Ochieng dismissed the postmortem report saying there was no bullet in the deceased’s body since it had already been removed during surgery done earlier.

The lawyers told court that the new theory points to over bleeding due to the surgical operation as the cause of death for Akena and not a bullet.

“The surgical operation was the superseding cause of death and not the bullet,” Alaka told court before requesting that the witness be ordered to produce his handwritten rough notes made while carrying out the postmortem.

However, in response, Witness X insisted that Akena’s death was not caused by the surgical operation he had but rather the bullet injury.

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