Accused of murder, tortured, Micheal Gyabi seeks justice

At 49, the man would be at his prime and probably leading a useful life. Today, he is instead largely confined to a bed and can barely get by on crutches. 

Mr Gyabi does not want to end up as another statistic on the long list of those who have suffered, or continue to suffer grievous bodily harm at the hands of rogue security officers. He wants justice; the officers who condemned him to such a pitiful existence should pay for their crimes, he says.

The father of six remembers being tortured for days at an undisclosed location before being dumped at Iganga Central Police Station in critical condition. 

His captors wanted him to confess to the killing of somebody and to a motor vehicle robbery. Their extended and criminal physical abuse left him with extensive injuries to the spine and private parts. Without a job today, he can hardly meet his heavy medical bills.

The three men who allegedly broke Mr Gyabi’s back are believed to have been attached to the police’s Flying Squad in Bugiri. He can’t remember their names. All he recalls from the 44 days of torture is that they accused him of murder and theft, crimes he denies.

The arrest
He was picked up from the home of his brother, Mr Matiya Wabwire, hundreds of kilometres away in Kibuli, Kampala, by the men who had travelled all the way from Bugiri to pursue a suspect in the alleged theft of a tipper lorry. 

From the police cell in Iganga, he was eventually brought to court in Bugiri, tried and sentenced to five years in prison for theft. That jail term ended on December 29, 2020. The parallel charge of murder was dismissed for lack of evidence. 

Mr Gyabi now wants to sue the police for what those men did to him. But he does not have means to retain legal counsel.

But Ms Betty Enangu, who heads the Uganda Human Rights Commission’s eastern region offices based in Jinja, tells Sunday Monitor that there is hope for this latest victim of police brutality.

“Let him go to our office in Jinja and register a case of torture. He will be helped to get justice,”Ms Enangu says.

Under the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, security officers accused of torturing suspects can be held personally liable for the offence, as emphasised by Ms Juliet Ayo, a human rights activist working in Tororo District. This includes the officers who participated directly in the torture and the commanders of their unit, who become liable as accessories to the crime.

“Whether he was tortured in public, at a police station or an undisclosed place, torture is not allowed in Uganda. You cannot punish someone twice. You have arrested him and then you start torturing him? This is not allowed,” Ms Ayo says

“When a police officer tortures someone, they carry their own cross as individuals. Those police officers who tortured him should be sued as individuals. Let the Uganda Police Force handover their officers who committed the crime to the court and Uganda Human Rights Commission,” she says.

Before his life was turned upside down, Mr Gyabi had been a tipper truck driver in Bugiri Town, not very many kilometres down the road from Iganga. He had come here to earn an honest living all the way from Wekobola Village, Butta Parish of Toma Sub-county in Bugisu sub-region’s Manafwa District.

His wife left him following the arrest and conviction. Mr Gyabi now lives in an incomplete house with his six children in Manafwa. 

Amongst his grievances are the allegations of having been tortured, unlawful arrest and detention. The man also accuses local police commanders of standing in the way of his attempts to get justice.   

Senior Commissioner of Police Fred Enanga, says the Force’s spokesperson, that the victim must lodge a formal complaint in order to enable an internal inquiry.

“How can we verify? That matter needs to be investigated and find out whether he was detained in our cells. We advise him to complain to police officially so that the matter can be investigated by police,” SCP Enanga says

The ordeal began on the night of April 15, 2017. 

“It was about 10pm when three unknown people knocked on my door when I was sleeping at my brother’s (Mr Matiya Wabwire) home and asked me to open it. I had no knowledge of them, so I hesitated for a few minutes to open,” he remembers. 

“Immediately after opening, they entered my room and started beating me as they handcuffed me,”Mr Gyabi says. “They introduced themselves as police operatives attached to Iganga and Bugiri central police stations.

“I was dragged into a white Ipsum car. They had one gun and they drove me to a secret cell known as ‘Wembley’ in Iganga. They tortured me while being driven to Iganga and at their secret detention cell. One of them used a baton, hitting my head several times. Others stepped on my head with their boots, they asked me to confess to the offence but I told them I didn’t know anything,” he narrates.

Mr Gyabi says his troubles started when a man approached him, claiming to be a contractor and asked to hire a tipper lorry.

“I took him to my boss in Bugiri and they agreed [a fee]. He was given a truck on March 3, 2017, only to disappear with the lorry along with its driver. After a search, the vehicle was found in [the extreme northern end of the country in West Nile’s] Moyo District abandoned,”Mr Gyabi narrates.

He says although he was in Iganga Town with no idea of the whereabouts of the truck, police accused him of killing the driver.

“I was detained in a secret cell in Iganga for one week and they tortured me for three days non-stop. They used batons, nails, thorns, metal objects and other instruments to torture me every day. They broke my back and ribs, making me disabled. I have deep wounds on my legs, and I use crutches,” he says.

“They tied my private parts and started pulling as they demanded that I confess to the crimes. After torturing me, I was driven to Iganga Central Police Station in critical condition and dumped there. I was detained at Iganga CPS for two weeks before I was transferred again to Bugiri CPS, where I was detained for days”.

From Bugiri police, the suspect was arraigned before Bugiri Grade One Magistrate’s Court, where the charge of murder was dismissed two months later in June 2017. He was then charged with and convicted of theft.

“I was again taken back to Bugiri Central Police Station for three days before [being brought back] to court. Although I was in critical condition, the court remanded me to Bugiri Prison for two months,” he adds.

As his health deteriorated, the authorities decided to transfer him to the larger Jinja Main Prison from where Mr Gyabi was again referred to Luzira Prison in Kampala, which offers the possibility of better medical attention for inmates.

“I was sentenced to five years on theft charges [on August 18, 2017], although I didn’t commit the crime. By the time I was convicted, I was already disabled,” he says.

The former convict holds up a release pass issued by Luzira prison, which confirmed his date of conviction and prisoner number as J-303/2017, as he tells his sad story with tears welling up in his eyes.

Cry for help
“My medication is too expensive, and I cannot afford to buy it. A full dose is about Shs800,000. The doctors wanted to operate on my back at Shs8m, but I failed to get the money,” he says.

“I am now disabled and my family is starving. They don’t have food, have no clothes. My children are out of school due to lack of school fees and other scholastic materials”.

As we speak, his brother, Mr Robert Mukite, joins in, revealing how his brother’s condition is getting worse.

“We request the Uganda Police, State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Ministry of Internal Affairs to intervene and help our brother to get justice and medication. We sold all the properties, including land, cattle to treat him but in vain. We have nothing to sell now,”Mr Mukite says .

Mr Steven Masiga, a researcher on community policing, also refers to Uganda’s legal prohibitions against torture, referring particularly to Article 24 of the Constitution, which prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of persons.

“If the victim has sufficient evidence on those who are alleged to have tortured him, he can therefore file complaints. We call on the police leadership to uphold the law and those found acting contrary be treated as abusers of the law,” he says.

Police on the spot
Over the years, the Uganda Police Force and other security organs have been adversely mentioned in reports about human rights abuses, including allegations of torture of civilians.

In 2017/2018, the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims reported that up to 600 cases of torture were attributed to the police, while and 443 cases were allegedly committed by soldiers.

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