On March 14, 2021, a one John went with his wife to a spa within Kampala for a sauna. While there he called his son, Isaac, to meet them at the spa and drive them back home later that evening. When John and his wife came out of the sauna, he found his two sons, Isaac and Richard, outside and each of them was on phone. The presence of Richard at the spa, however, was a surprise to John.
John and his wife went to the gardens of the spa and made orders for beers. According to the couple, Richard did not order for anything, but was seen stirring a drink for his brother Isaac. When Richard brought the drink to Isaac, their father John asked him to take the drink as well, but Richard refused saying he had ordered for milk. John wanted to tell Isaac not to take the drink but it was too late. John, however, noticed that Richard did not take anything at all.
Four days later Isaac complained of abdominal pain and developed dry dark lips. He was also noted to be taking too much water. John told court that when Isaac fell sick he, John, was very uncomfortable as he had witnessed Richard give Isaac something to drink which drink Richard had stirred.
Isaac’s condition continued to deteriorate and on May 8, 2021, he was taken to a private hospital in the city and eventually ended up in the Intensive Care Unit. Richard kept visiting his brother secretly without the knowledge of their father, and his movements were suspicious.
Isaac then made a dying declaration to his father and in the presence of another of his brothers that Richard had killed him. Indeed, on May 15, 2021, John got a phone call at about 1am informing him that Isaac had passed away. Isaac was buried on May 17, 2021 without a postmortem examination.
The death certificate from the hospital stated the cause of death as Corona Virus infection with associated multiple organ dysfunction and underlying conditions of acute pancreatitis and diabetes mellitus. According to records from the hospital the patient tested positive for the Corona Virus antigen.
A brother of the deceased approached one of the doctors in the hospital to find out exactly what caused the death of Isaac. The doctor explained what was in the death certificate; that Isaac died due to acute pancreatitis, which was triggered by the Corona Virus.
The doctor told him that at that time, the kidneys of the patient had started recovering but that the lungs failed him due to acute pancreatitis; that there was an acute inflammation of the pancreases.
The family did, however, not believe this and requested for one of the samples of blood removed from Isaac before he died, which blood sample they took to the Uganda Virus Institute. The results came back as negative for the Corona Virus.
Isaac’s father, John, went and lodged a complaint with the police and an exhumation of the body of Isaac was done and samples were removed from the body for toxicology tests. The tests revealed that the stomach contents contained carbofuran, a pesticide that a toxicologist told court is a dangerous poisonous substance capable of killing a person.
This pesticide belongs to a group of chemicals known organophosphates. These chemicals are known to cause death within a very short time court was informed. Carbofuran is classified as highly hazardous by the World Health Organization.
Richard was charged with murder and the burden of proof of this offence, as in any criminal case, was on the prosecution. Prosecution had to prove that beyond reasonable doubt Richard was responsible for the death of his brother Isaac. This, to court, means that having considered all the evidence, there is no possibility that the accused is innocent when the evidence is evaluated as a whole.
Court considers evidence of both prosecution and the defence relating to each of the ingredients before coming to a conclusion. Court has always been cautioned not to consider the prosecution evidence in isolation of the evidence presented on behalf of the accused.
The position of the law is that court must consider the strength and weakness of the prosecution and defence evidence, weigh the evidence as a whole, apply the law that the burden of proof always rests upon the prosecution, and decide whether the defence has raised a reasonable doubt. If the defence has successfully done so, the accused must be acquitted. But if the defence has not raised a doubt that the prosecution case is true and accurate, the accused must be convicted.
Richard denied killing his brother. He told court that on March 14, 2021, he met with his father and step-mother and his brother Isaac at the spa where they sat together up to 8 pm. According to him, drinks were ordered and these included beers for his father and step-mother and two glasses of juice.
The drinks were brought by the waiter and placed on the table near where they were seated. He told court that he then stood up and served each of them but served his young brother, the deceased last. However, during cross-examination, Richard told court that he walked with his brother to the serving area and Isaac ordered for cocktail drink which was made by the barmaid whom they found at the serving area and that he handed over the cocktail drink to his brother.
To be continued
