Katanga case: Prosecution re-examines key police witness
The prosecution on Wednesday re-examined its key police witness, Andrew Mubiru in the ongoing Katanga murder trial.
Prosecution lawyers asked the witness questions in a bid to close loohopes that could have arisen in the witness’ testimony during cross examination.
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The trial followed three weeks of intense cross-examination by the defence lawyers led by Mac Dosman Kabega in which they poked holes in Mubiru’s testimony including forensic evidence presented.
They defence lawyers also accused the head of police’s forensic directorate of presenting a report in court based on samples that were not collected from the crime scene.
He was accused of stepping out of the standard operating procedures in criminal investigation to irregularly collect own DNA samples and include them in the trove of evidence in murder trial of Molly Katanga.
The defense lawyers suggested that Mubiru acted beyond the scope of the instructions given to him by police investigators regarding the samples to be tested for DNA in the case.
The lawyers said that since Mubiru admits that the swab he took from the trigger of the pistol was consumed in the laboratory, there is no exhibit of such a sample before the court.
They also accused him of examining a gun from a different case, not the alleged murder weapon with lawyer Kabega presenting evidence suggesting Mubiru analysed a pistol with a different serial number, contradicting the prosecution’s claims.
Kabega also claimed that a number exhibits and items were deliberately left for analysis because they would reveal that A1 (Ms. Molly Katanga) was badly assaulted.
“You were at the scene of crime; these were items of assault, and you didn’t do a DNA. I want to suggest to you that you deliberately left them because they would reveal that A1 was badly assaulted,” said Kabega.
Evidence on court record shows that a shocking array of weapons was recovered from the master bedroom of Molly and Henry Katanga, including four sticks, a baton, and a pistol.
Mubiru confirmed to court that Molly’s blood was found extensively throughout the bedroom, bathroom, balcony, and ceiling, with gruesome pieces of her skull and skin discovered on the bedroom door hinge.
The court was shown the exhibits, which included three wooden sticks, a wooden baton, and a metallic walking stick with a curved handle.
A pistol was also recovered from the scene, which Mubiru described as an “armory.”
Kabega also presented additional evidence, seeking to cast doubt on the prosecution’s case.
The defence lawyer tendered in hard copies of the software used in Mubiru’s examination analysis, highlighting that the software was outdated and prone to inaccuracies.
