The 2017 murders of 23 women in Entebbe remain a mystery, after the High Court acquitted three people earlier linked to the gruesome killings. Justice Wilson Kwesiga yesterday ruled that the trio were maliciously prosecuted.
Fish exporter Ivan Katongole, Andrew Kizito, a bar owner and Helen Nabaggala, a hairdresser, had been accused of the murder of Rose Nakimuli, one of the 23 victims. The Police records indicate that her assailants also inserted sticks into her private parts.
All suspects freed
The acquittal of the trio by Justice Kwesiga yesterday now means that there is no conviction for any of the brutal killings that shocked the country.
“The Police did a bad job and the prosecution of the accused was done in bad faith. I, therefore, find that the accused have no case to answer and I do hereby acquit and set all of them free,” Justice Kwesiga ruled.
The judge observed that none of the eight prosecution witnesses, majority of whom were Police officers, adduced incriminating evidence against the accused.
“The evidence presented to court could not even cause a reasonable suspicion that it is the accused who caused the murder of the deceased,” he said.
Before the accused were discharged from the dock, their relatives shouted, jubilated, hugged and clapped, while in the courtroom. Some of them were heard saying, “God is good because justice has finally prevailed.”
The accused were seen hugging each other while standing in the dock. Katongole later burst into tears while pointing up to the sky. The trio had been on remand since September, 9, 2017, when they were arraigned before Entebbe Chief Magistrates’ Court and charged with murder.
“Whoever investigated this case did a bad job, because there is nothing relevant. Majority of the witnesses were Police officers, who only told court hearsay, which was also not relevant to the case,” he noted.
DPP, Police did shoddy job
The judge blasted the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Police for not taking the investigation of the case seriously, yet it involved the killing of a number of women in Entebbe. Katongole’s lawyer, Caleb Alaka said he has never argued a simple case like this.
Being suspicious of a possible arrest, the trio boarded one vehicle with their lawyers and sped off. Prosecution, led by Baston Baguma, alleged that on July 24, 2017, while at Kitala LC1 zone in Katabi town council, Wakiso district, the accused and others still at large, killed Nakimuli in cold blood.
The gruesome killings
The killing of women in Entebbe, was done in almost a similar fashion, including attacking women at night, sexually assaulting them and strangling them, before inserting sticks in their private parts. When the murders increased, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) camped in the area for a month, hunting for the killers.
Appearing before Parliament in September 2017, internal affairs minister Jeje Odongo told the House that a total of 44 murder suspects had been arrested and 22 charged in courts over Entebbe and Nansana murders, all in Wakiso district.
However, majority of them were set free by Nabweru Chief Magistrate’s Court when the DPP dropped the charges against them in 2017. Odongo at the time said a fictitious sect, Illuminati, was behind the murders of the women. He also alleged that Katongole was behind the ‘murders’ because he wanted to enrich himself.