Three police detectives have pinned six people over the murder of Maria Nagirinya and her driver Ronald Kitayimbwa who were kidnapped from her home in Lungujja and later bodies dumped in Mukono.
Detective Constable Katanengo Sabasi, 34 who was then attached to Mukono Police station as the division scenes of crime officer told court on Thursday that on September, 30, 2019, he was asked division CID officer to go with him to a scene where two dead bodies had been recovered at Nakitutuli valley along the Mukono-Kayunga road.
He told court that on reaching the scene, he first checked the two bodies for their identification documents but none had.
“I started with the body of the female(Nagirinya) and I noticed that it had a deep cut on the head and on the left eye. Two teeth were missing from her lower jaw,” Katanengo who was testifying as the 10th prosecution witness told court.
He said that the male body( for Kitayimbwa) also had several cuts or wounds.
“The body of the male had several injuries on the head and both arms. Also at the scene, we recovered a brown wallet under a cassava plant and a few inches away from the female body was a black jacket abandoned and a grey piece of cloth. There were also tree pieces of logs that had been left at the crime scene whereas the grass was suppressed as if there was a struggle,” the police detective told court.
On Wednesday, Isaac Ssenabulya, alias Kisunsu who pleaded guilty to the charges and was used as a state witness told court that the scene in Mukono Nagirinya and Kitayimbwa were one by one hit on their heads with a car jerk and logs before their lifeless body were dumped in the valley.
Testifying on Thursday, police detective Katanengo told court that later, two suspects including Copriyan Kasolo, alias Arsenal and Johnson Lubega alias Rasta were later brought by police from Katwe to help in scene reconstruction in Mukono.
He said the two showed them where they dumped the two bodies.
“Each of them showed the team the point where they dumped the bodies.”
Detective Corporal Alex Osekeny testified that he was part of the team that took the suspects to the crime scenes for reconstruction and each showed the role they played.
According to the detective, the suspects told security that they boarded two bodas being ridden by Nassif Kalyango alias Muwonge (22) and Hassan Kisekka alias Masadda at ABC stage in Nateete before they proceeded to Busega where they pitched camp as they waited for Nagirinya’s vehicle.
On arrival, the two boda bodas followed the vehicle up to her gate in Lungujja from where the duo was kidnapped from.
Video footage
In court, the police detective also presented a video recording that he made as part of the scene reconstruction process in which the suspects admitted and narrated the roles they played in the kidnap.
In the video, Nassif Kalyango is seen showing where their boda bodas were staged when the four people came and asked to be taken for the mission.
Kalyango told detectives that when Nagirinya’s vehicle arrived, Kasolo jumped off his boda and opted to use the one being ridden by Muwonge after the former was accused of being timid and couldn’t ride clearly.
He said another person, Fred who was part of the team abandoned the mission at the last hour after he feared Nagirinya was not coming as they thought.
“How we pulled off the mission”
In the video, Kasolo was captured telling detectives that when they followed Nagirinya’s vehicle, they stopped at her gate where the vehicle had stopped.
“The vehicle was at the gate and we jumped off the boda boda. I went to the driver’s side while Rasta went to the other side. We had toy guns in our hands and I knocked on the driver(Kitayimbwa)’s window. Isaac(Ssenabulya, alias Kisunsu) had a panga,”Kasolo said.
In another recording, the suspects said Nagirinya and Kitayimbwa were later forced into the back of the vehicle where Johnson Lubega alias Rasta and Isaac Ssenabulya, alias Kisunsu guarded them as Kasolo drove.
The case has been adjourned up to Tuesday.
Charges
Six people including Copriyan Kasolo, alias Arsenal, a shoe hawker in Nateete; Sharif Mpanga, Johnson Lubega alias Rasta unemployed; Nassif Kalyango alias Muwonge and Hassan Kiseeka alias Masadda both boda-boda riders in Kitaka Zone in Nateete and Sadat Kateregga’s alias Baros face charges related to kidnap, aggravated robbery and murder of Nagirinya and her driver Ronald Kitayimbwa which happened in 2019.
Chief State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya and Timothy Emeri lead the prosecution by the state whereas Julius Sserwambala is the lawyer for the accused.
