The High Court has granted a murder suspect limited access to his confiscated mobile phones to retrieve contact details of potential defence witnesses in the ongoing Ggaba murder trial.
Trial judge Alice Komuhangi Khaukha made the ruling after finding that prime suspect Okello Christopher Onyum has a case to answer.
Following the ruling, Okello requested more time until Monday to identify his witnesses, but the court declined the request, stating that the 30 minutes already granted were sufficient.
He then asked the court to return three of his four confiscated phones, saying he needed them to access contact details for witnesses he intends to call in his defence.
“I intend to make a sworn defence, but I don’t know if I can find my witnesses,” Okello told court.
Justice Komuhangi initially responded that locating witnesses is not the responsibility of the accused, noting that the court has the authority to summon them.
However, she later granted Okello controlled access to the devices strictly for the purpose of retrieving witness contacts.
The process was conducted under close supervision, with the 18th prosecution witness, Kenneth Angulu, assisting as Okello accessed the phones.
Shortly after, the accused handed a handwritten list of witnesses to his defence lawyers.
Court heard that while Okello indicated he had four witnesses, only one name had been clearly written down at the time of submission, prompting further clarification from the bench.
Justice Komuhangi later directed both prosecution and defence teams to disclose the details of the intended witnesses as the trial proceeds.
